Chunaavee Kissa: Just as the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ticket is a guarantee of victory today, similarly 76 years ago the Congress party was almost unbeatable. The first Lok Sabha elections in the country were held in 1952 and Jawaharlal Nehru was the public leader. At that time there was a wave of Jawahar Lal Nehru in the country. The one who got ticket from Congress party in that election, his boat crossed. Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar, one of the makers of the Constitution, also stood in this election. In the first Lok Sabha elections, Ambedkar had contested from the Scheduled Caste Federation Party. But he had to face defeat.
Congress had hoisted the flag of victory
Voting for the first general election ended in the last week of February 1952. When the votes were counted, Congress won easily. The Congress Party had won 364 out of 489 seats in the Parliament and 2247 seats out of 3280 assembly seats in the entire country. In the entire parliamentary elections, Congress got 45 percent votes of the total voters and it won 74.4 percent seats. Whereas in the elections held for state assemblies, it had secured 42.4 percent of the total votes. It captured 68.6 percent seats. But even in this environment, 28 Congress ministers were defeated in the elections.
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Ambedkar lost to Kajrolkar
But the most surprising result in this election was the defeat of Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar. He was recognized as a strong leader of Scheduled Castes across the country. But in his constituency in Bombay, Congress had fielded his PA Narayan S Kajrolkar against Ambedkar. He was also from backward class. Apart from this, there was also one candidate each from Communist Party and Hindu Mahasabha. Narayan Kajrolkar was a novice leader doing milk business. But Nehru’s wave was so strong that Narayan Kajrolkar won by 15 thousand votes. Ambedkar stood fourth. According to historian Ramchandra Guha’s book ‘India: After Gandhi’, famous Marathi journalist P.K. Atre had coined a slogan which became quite famous at that time…
Ambedkar if he is bitten by incident.
Aani kuthe ha lonivikya kajrolkar
(This meant: Where is Ambedkar, the great creator of the Constitution, and where is Kajrolkar, the novice milk seller?)
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Nehru’s wave was so strong that Narayan Kajrolkar won by 15 thousand votes and Ambedkar stood fourth.
What did Hindu Mahasabha say?
But in the end the hold and prestige of Congress worked in favor of Kajrolkar. Apart from this, the speeches given by Nehru in Bombay were also in favor of Kajrolkar. Ambedkar was one of the most prominent figures in the independence movement. At that time there was hardly anyone in the country as educated as him. Two doctoral degrees in Economics. One from America’s Columbia University, the other from London School of Economics. Considering Ambedkar’s qualifications, he was made the chairman of the drafting committee of the Constitution. Hindu Mahasabha (now BJP) claims that Nehru did not allow Ambedkar to come into the mainstream of politics. To ensure his defeat, Nehru himself even campaigned. Even in 1954, for the second time, Nehru ensured that he did not win the by-election from Bhandara. Dr. Ambedkar died in 1956.
Communist leader’s biggest victory
But another shocking thing in that election was that Communist leader Ravi Narayana Reddy, who drank the first drink of whiskey in the elections, had achieved the biggest victory. His victory margin was more than Jawahar Lal Nehru’s victory margin.
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Tags: 2024 Loksabha Election, Dr. Bhim Rao Ambedkar, History, Jawaharlal Nehru, Loksabha Election 2024, Loksabha Elections, mumbai
FIRST PUBLISHED: March 25, 2024, 09:36 IST