Jan Kranti Party was a

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular area's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology, ...

in Uttar Pradesh, India, based on

Hindutva Hindutva (; ) is a Far-right politics, far-right political ideology encompassing the cultural justification of Hindu nationalism and the belief in establishing Hindu hegemony within India. The political ideology was formulated by Vinayak Da ...

. It was founded by

Kalyan Singh Kalyan Singh (5 January 1932 – 21 August 2021) was an Indian politician and a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). He served twice as the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh and as a Member of Parliament. He was the Chief minister of Utta ...

, a former Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, on 5 January 2010 (in connection with Singh's 76th birthday). The party adopted Almirah as its

Election symbol An electoral symbol is a standardised symbol allocated to an independent candidate or political party by a country's election commission for use in election ballots. Usage Symbols are used by parties in their campaigning, and printed on ballot ...

. The launching of the new party occurred two months after an alliance between Singh and the

Samajwadi Party The Samajwadi Party ( SP; ) is a Socialism, socialist political party in India. It was founded on 4 October 1992 by former Janata Dal politician Mulayam Singh Yadav and is headquartered in New Delhi. It is the third-largest political party in ...

broke down. Upon the founding of the party, Singh handed over the leadership of the party to his son, Rajveer Singh, who was named national president.

Foundation

Citing neglect and humiliation by his then party, the

Bharatiya Janata Party The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; , ) is a political party in India and one of the two major List of political parties in India, Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. BJP emerged out from Syama Prasad Mukherjee's ...

(BJP),

, who was a former state

Chief Minister A chief minister is an elected or appointed head of government of – in most instances – a sub-national entity, for instance an administrative subdivision or federal constituent entity. Examples include a state (and sometimes a union ter ...

, resigned his membership and position as a national vice-president of the party on 20 January 2009. On the following day, after meeting

(SP) leaders

Mulayam Singh Yadav Mulayam Singh Yadav (22 November 1939 – 10 October 2022) was an Indian politician, a socialism, socialist figure and founder of the Samajwadi Party. Over the course of his political career spanning more than six decades, he served for three t ...

and Amar Singh, Kalyan Singh announced that he would campaign for the SP in the

2009 Indian general elections General elections were held in India in five phases between 16 April 2009 and 13 May 2009 to elect the members of the fifteenth Lok Sabha. With a registered electorate of 716 million and a turnout of 417 million voters, it was the la ...

. Meanwhile, his son Rajveer Singh, whose treatment was one of the main reasons for his disenchantment with the BJP, joined the SP. On 14 November, Yadav said that the poor performance of the SP at the Firozabad by-election was due to the loss of Muslim support and attributed it to the involvement of Kalyan Singh. Snubbed by Yadav, Kalyan Singh reaffirmed his allegiance to the BJP and the

Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS,, ) is an Indian right-wing politics, right-wing, Hindutva, Hindu nationalist volunteer paramilitary organisation. It is the progenitor and leader of a large body of organisations called the Sangh Parivar ( ...

. He indicated that he was willing to rejoin the BJP, and his son resigned from the SP. In January 2010, Kalyan Singh announced the formation of a new

-oriented political party, the Jan Kranti Party, but chose to take the role of patron while his son became the leader. At the time of the founding of the new party, Kalyan Singh declared that the intention of the party was to contest all 403 constituencies in the

2012 Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly election The 2012 Uttar Pradesh legislative assembly election followed as a result the expiration of the five-year term of the previous legislature elected in Uttar Pradesh, India. The election to the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly was held in seven ...

Merger with BJP

On 21 January 2013, Kalyan Singh announced the merger of both of his parties – the Rashtriya Kranti Party (RKP), which he formed after being suspended from the BJP in 1999, and also the Jan Kranti Party (JKP) – with the BJP. However, he chose not to "officially join the BJP" on the advice of senior party leaders. The reason for this was that the BJP leadership did not want Kalyan Singh to have to resign his seat in the

Lok Sabha The Lok Sabha, also known as the House of the People, is the lower house of Parliament of India which is Bicameralism, bicameral, where the upper house is Rajya Sabha. Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha, Members of the Lok Sabha are elected by a ...

, representing

Etah Etah () is a city in the western part of Uttar Pradesh, India, and the administrative headquarters of Etah District. The nearest major cities are Aligarh and Agra. Located approximately 45 miles (72 km) northeast of Agra and about 25 mile ...

, which he had won in the 2009 parliamentary election.

References

{{Reflist Defunct political parties in Uttar Pradesh Political parties established in 2010 2010 establishments in Uttar Pradesh Bharatiya Janata Party breakaway groups Hindutva