122 "Presenting" the Past
which met in April 1927 at Patna under B. S. Moonje, protested against the
establishment of separate electorates and reiterated its determination to
carry on the movement of shuddhi (purification) and sanghatan (organiza-
tion).^44 Although there was no definite date of the Congress-Mahasabha
break, this meeting set the latter on a separate course. The Congress even-
tually passed a resolution in June 1934 forbidding its members from join-
ing the RSS, Hindu Mahasabha, and Muslim League.
The inclusion of some of the Hindu Mahasabha members, including
V.D. Savarkar, in the Mahatma Gandhi assassination case damaged the
organization substantially. The year Savarkar spent in prison during the
arduous trial wrecked the health of the powerful leader and finished him
as much as the Mahasabha as a force in Indian politics. The members
wanted either to change their movement's name or to concentrate on cul-
tural and social activities, or to include non-Hindus in their work. Syama
Prasad Mukherjee, the vice president of the Mahasabha and the industry
and supply minister in the Nehru cabinet, asked the Mahasabha to change
its name and later resigned from the Mahasabha in 1949 and from the
Nehru ministry on April 19,1950, over differences with the prime minister
on handling the situation in Kashmir and East Bengal.
Mukherjee founded the BJS (also known as the Jana Sangh) on October
21,1951. By the end of 1960, membership had risen from 215,370 the pre-
vious year to 274,907, the local committees had increased from 2,551 to
4,313, and constituency committees had expanded from 495 to 584. The
party had one member in the Rajya Sabha and four members in the Lok
Sabha.^45 Although the Hindu Mahasabha fought three general elections
after independence, it was pushed aside by the new and more popular
party, the BJS. The party was preoccupied with northern issues such as the
promotion of Hindi, refugee interests, and resistance to Pakistan. With a
"restrictive and exclusive" interpretation of Hinduism, "its doctrines were
inspired by an activist version of Hindu nationalism and, indirectly, by the
values of Brahmanism rather than the devotional and quietist values of
popular Hinduism."^46
The Hindu Mahasabha accused the BJS of believing in "capitalism of
the Western type" and professing "secularism" with soft corners for Paki-
stan and anti-Hindu elements in India; however, both parties' policies and
programs were very similar. The Hindu Mahasabha held the reestablish-
ment of Akhand Bharat (Greater India) by undoing the partition as one
of its "cardinal creed."^47 The BJS used to observe August 15 as Akhand
Bharat Day to reaffirm people's faith in the unity and integrity of India.^48
In its election manifesto for the fourth general elections in 1967, the Hindu
Mahasabha contended that they stood "for just and fair treatment to all
non-Hindu minorities" but "they should merge themselves in the main
current of Hindu nationalism and give up separate national consciousness
on the basis of religion and culture."^49 The BJS's manifesto for the same