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dated November 4, 1954: Jan Sangh chief quits

Pandit Mauli Chander Sharma, President of the Bharatiya Jan Sangh, has tendered his resignation from that office and membership of the party. The complete dissociation of Pandit Sharma from an organisation which he had built up and served for long is due to a "tension inside the party caused by the determination of the R.S.S. to capture the Jan Sangh." In a statement released to the press in New Delhi on November 3 announcing his resignation, Pandit Sharma said: "While wholeheartedly subscribing to the objects for which the Jan Sangh was founded and for which I will continue to work in whatever field I can, it is not possible for me to continue my association with it so long as its present set-up lasts." Mr. Sharma said that acute difference of opinion on the question of interference by the R.S.S. in the affairs of the Jan Sangh had been growing since over a year now. Many R.S.S. workers had entered the party since its very inception. They were welcomed as R.S.S. leaders, because they had declared that the R.S.S. was a purely cultural body and that its members were perfectly free to join any political party. In practice, however, it did not prove to be so. The late Dr. S.P. Mookherji was often seriously perturbed by the demand of R.S.S. leaders for a decisive role in matters like the appointment of office-bearers, nomination of candidates, for elections and matters of policy. We, however, hoped that the rank and file of the R.S.S. would be drawn out into the arena of democratic public life through their association with the Jan Sangh. Mr. Sharma said that a "vigorous and calculated" drive was launched to turn the Jan Sangh into a convenient handle of the R.S.S. Many workers and groups in the country had resented this. Mr. Sharma said he had also been "accused" of having praised Prime Minister Nehru because he had appreciated certain achievements of the Government at home and had supported its foreign policy in regard to building up an area of peace and coexistence. "I maintain that the role of opposition in a democracy is not one of sterile hostility and pettiness, but one of helpful and corrective criticism and catholicity of behaviour."

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