Socialist Party (India)

Socialist Party has been the name of several political parties in India, all of which have their roots in the Congress Socialist Party formed during the freedom struggle. (The Samajwadi Party is also a modern-day party whose first name in Hindi means "socialist".)

The former Congress Socialist Party

Main article: Congress Socialist Party

The original Socialist Party had its roots in the Congress Socialist Party (CSP), the socialist caucus of the Indian National Congress, which fused in 1948 with the Bolshevik-Leninist Party of India, Ceylon and Burma (BLPI). Hector Abhayavardhana of the BLPI became General Secretary of the new party. The Socialist Party was founded not long after India's independence when Jayprakash Narayan, Basawon Singh (Sinha), Acharya Narendra Dev led the CSP out of Congress. At the time, Congress's leader Jawaharlal Nehru was a democratic socialist whose sentiments were widely admired by the rank and file of the CSP.

Today the majority of political parties in India are socialist. These different parties have great influence in some states or regions, some have even formed governments in those states. Examples are Samajvadi party of Bihar and Uttar paradesh, BSP of Uttar pradesh, DMK and ADMK of Tamilnadu, Janatha Dal of Karnataka, Communist parties in Kerala, Bengal and Tripura. Leaders of these praties have also become Chief ministers in these states. There are other smaller socialist parties whose leaders have became ministers in different states. But as a whole these socialist parties still now could't form a unity front and became a nationalist party. They are generally consisdered as regional parties, even though some attempts were done by leaders to form a national parties. This was mainly due to difference in the regional issues and problems but many of these regional problems were able to addressed and solved by these parties. So its likely that in near future a socialist front consisting of different socialist parties many be formed. This may be made inevitable as leading nationalist parties like Congress and BJP follow the same economical views, so people have no alternative but to bear their economical decisions.

Indian Socialist Party

Despite Jai Prakash Narayan's personal popularity, the Socialist Party won only 12 seats at the 1951 Indian general election, and its electoral fortunes did not improve. The SP merged with the Kisan Mazdoor Praja Party, which had recently been formed by J.B. Kripalani, to form the Praja Socialist Party.

Praja Socialist Party

Main article: Praja Socialist Party

The Praja Socialist Party was an Indian political party in existence from 1952 to 1972. It was founded when the Socialist Party, led by Jayprakash Narayan, Acharya Narendra Deva and Basawon Singh (Sinha), merged with the Kisan Mazdoor Praja Party led by J.B. Kripalani (formerly a close associate of Jawaharlal Nehru). A section led by Rammanohar Lohia broke from the party in 1955, resuming the name "Socialist Party".

In 1974 and 1975, JP led satyagrahas against the corrupt government of Indira Gandhi and called for a 'Total Revolution' in the countryside. In response, Indira declared the two-year State of Emergency under which her own power was consolidated and JP was jailed.

After the Emergency, the Socialist Party joined with a number of other groups to form the Bharatiya Lok Dal, which fused in 1977 into Janata Party as an omnibus opposition to Congress Party rule.