Jana Sangh, BJP founded to protect country's unity: CM Adityanath

Story by PTI | Posted by Ashhar Alam | Date 27-06-2026

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath

Gorakhpur (UP)

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Saturday said the Bharatiya Jana Sangh and the BJP were founded to protect the country's unity and integrity rather than to attain power.

Addressing the inaugural session of the Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay Prashikshan Maha Abhiyan-2026 in Gorakhpur, Adityanath said Bharatiya Jana Sangh founder Syama Prasad Mookerjee resigned from Jawaharlal Nehru's Cabinet in protest against what he termed the Congress government's "appeasement policies".

"The Bharatiya Jana Sangh did not begin its journey for power. It began its struggle to expose the Congress government's conspiracies on Kashmir and to preserve the unity and integrity of the nation," he said.

Recalling Mookerjee's opposition to Jammu and Kashmir's special status, the chief minister said, "From 1953 till the abrogation of Article 370 in 2019, every worker of the Bharatiya Jana Sangh and later the BJP continued to strive for it."

He added, "Dr Syama Prasad Mookerjee had declared, 'Ek desh mein do pradhan, do vidhan, do nishan nahi chalenge'. Prime Minister Narendra Modi fulfilled that dream by abrogating Article 370."

Adityanath said political stability was essential for development and credited former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Prime Minister Narendra Modi for providing stable governments. Referring to the Emergency imposed in 1975, he alleged that the Congress government had sought to "strangle democracy" and said more than one lakh Jana Sangh workers were arrested during the period.

Adityanath also claimed that Left Wing extremism had been reduced from around 120 districts before 2014 to "one or two districts".

Referring to welfare schemes, the chief minister said initiatives such as 'One District One Product' had transformed lives and claimed that "25 crore people have come out of poverty over the last 11-12 years".

Describing the training campaign as an effort to acquaint party workers with the ideals of Mookerjee and Upadhyay, Adityanath said it aimed to promote values of integrity, transparency and public service among BJP workers.