The Palampur Resolution: How A 1989 Meet in Himachal Propelled BJP To Centre of Indian Politics | EXPLAINED

the palampur resolution: how a 1989 meet in himachal propelled bjp to centre of indian politics | explained

the palampur resolution: how a 1989 meet in himachal propelled bjp to centre of indian politics | explained

Nearly thirty-five years have passed. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), founded in 1980, has risen from two seats in India’s Lok Sabha in 1984, to 85 in 1989, to 303 seats in 2019. This time, the saffron party is seeking 370 seats in the 2024 polls, not only as a way of securing a broad mandate, but also in tribute to Shyama Prasad Mukherjee, the founder of the Bharatiya Jana Sangh.

The rise of the BJP in Indian politics has been slow, but steady. And in that rise, the Ram Mandir has perhaps held one of the most significant places. As the world’s largest political party meets in Delhi for a national convention ahead of the world’s largest elections, here’s looking back at a national convention in 1989 that turned the tide for the BJP.

THE PALAMPUR RESOLUTION

The year was 1989. It was the month of June and the BJP was in election mode. The Lok Sabha polls were nearly five months away. Until then, the party just had two seats in the Lok Sabha. Rajiv Gandhi had become the Prime Minister in 1984, following the death of his mother Indira Gandhi. The memories of the emergency era were gradually fading and the BJP needed something big to capture the public imagination.

A meeting takes place at an old fashioned building of the Rotary Club in Palampur, in the hill state of Himachal Pradesh. And at this meeting, the BJP formally decides to make the building of the Ram Temple at Ram Janmabhoomi one of its political rallying points.

The Palampur Resolution said: “According to all available records, Mughal emperor Babar visited Ayodhya in 1528, destroyed the temple situated at the site believed to be Ram Janmasthan, and constructed a mosque in its place.”

WHAT HAPPENED AFTER THE PALAMPUR RESOLUTION?

After the BJP adopted what later came to be known as the Palampur resolution on June 11, 1989, the saffron party started leading the political project for the building of a Ram Temple at the site where it is believed that Lord Ram was born. Later that year, at the general elections of 1989, the BJP won 85 seats.

A year after the adoption of the Palampur Resolution, in 1990, Lal Krishna Advani, the then president of the Bharatiya Janata Party called for the ‘Ram Rath Yatra’ which would begin from the Somnath Temple in Gujarat and end in Ayodhya. That year, the BJP won and formed the government in the state of Himachal Pradesh.

The Rath Yatra followed the blitzkrieg that ended with the demolition of the disputed structure in 1992, which at the time was known as the Babri Masjid.

The movement for the building of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya continued. The BJP formed its first full-term government in 1999 under Atal Bihari Vajpayee. The issue of the Ram Temple was still in courts.

The BJP won the Lok Sabha elections again 15 years after 1999 – in 2014, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi coming to power.

In 2019, the Supreme Court handed over the disputed land to a trust to build the Ram Temple at the site.

The Ram Temple in Ayodhya opened on January 22, 2024.

A SIMILAR CONVENTION IN DELHI UNDERWAY

Just like the convention in Palampur in 1989, the BJP is holding a national convention in Delhi over the weekend months ahead of the Lok Sabha polls. Speaking at the convention, BJP’s now president Jagat Prakash Nadda referred to the significance of the Palampur Resolution on Saturday.

“When the national convention was held in Palampur in 1989, it was passed that we (the BJP) will explore all possibilities for the construction of a Ram Temple. Some people ridiculed us saying we say we will build the temple but never say when. The Ram Mandir was constructed. And on January 22, 2024, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, after a 11-day fast, performed the ‘pran pratishtha’ of Ram Lalla,” said Nadda.

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