While Kirti Azad seems to have ended up on the wrong side of the BJP leadership, he is just one more among several party members like Shatrughan Singh, Arun Shourie and Ram Jethmalani who have turned against the BJP in recent times. They are part of the Old Bloc but perhaps the true impact of their estrangement will only be felt in the time to come.

But since this phenomena of renegade politicians is not exclusive to the BJP, here’s a list of revolts in political parties, which were also brownie points for parties in opposition.

1. Mohammed Ali Jinnah.

One of the oldest defections from a political party in India, Jinnah’s resignation and later confrontation with the Congress is surely the most impactful one, as it resulted in the partition of an entire country. Although he took up the cause of a separate Pakistan much later, Jinnah resigned from Congress in 1920 when Gandhi launched the non-cooperation, which enjoyed support of Khilafat Muslims. 

He claimed to denounce, the zealots, both hindu and muslim, who he said were harming the national cause. Years later Jinnah went on to lead the Muslim League and made Pakistan a political reality, through a partition which triggered riots, resulting in millions of deaths.

2. Subhas Chandra Bose.

Another high profile and highly controversial political dissident in Indian political history, Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose was also a twice elected president of the Indian National Congress. But he was pushed out of the party following differences with Mahatma Gandhi, who disagreed with his policy of armed action against the British.

Bose went on to form the forward bloc and lead the Azad Hind Fauj, which he founded in 1943. He died in 1945 in a plane crash that has been shrouded in mystery, as his death has been the centre of several conspiracy theory. Although the Congress disagreed with his tactics, they hailed him as an important leader of the independence movement.

3. Morarji Desai

One of the major game changers in Indian political history, Morarji Desai’s career begin as a dissident in a way, as he joined Congress in the freedom movement after being forced to resign as collector of Godhra on accusations of going soft on Hindus during riots by the British regime. Post independence, he was always uncomfortable with Nehru and his allies, and was defeated by Indira Gandhi for Congress leadership despite being a senior and efficient candidate, leading to a split in the Congress. 

He later led the Nav Nirman movement against Congress in Gujarat, and joined Jayprakash Narayan’s anti corruption movement and the anti emergency wave that came later. After the end of emergency, Desai defeated Indira as the candidate of the Janata alliance, and served as Prime Minister from 1977-79. He is the only Indian national to be awarded the Nishan-e-Pakistan.

4. Jayaprakash Narayan

Known popularly as JP or even Lok Nayak, Narayan started off as a freedom fighter and joined the Indian National Congress on Jawaharlal Nehru’s invitation. But he went on to part ways from the Congress, a break up which changed the face of a Congress-dominated Indian political scene forever. Narayan returned to state politics much after independence but led the Bihar movement in 1974.

Following a lathi charge on his silent procession, JP called for peaceful total revolution, garnering support of people fed up by corruption and inflation. During emergency, he was arrested by the Indira Gandhi administration as he attracted gatherings of over 100,000 people to Ramlila Maidan. He guided formation of the Janata Party after the emergency ended, which proved to be the first strong political alternative apart from the Congress in India. It was also a platform for the BJP and other strong regional parties of present day India.

5. Sharad Pawar

Mentored by Yashwantrao Chawan, Sharad Pawar became and MLA from Baramati, Maharashtra on a Congress Party ticket in 1967. He first left the Indira-led Congress in 1980 to form a coalition with the Janata Party in 1978, and was later leader of opposition in Maharashtra during the 80s. He later rejoined Congress under Rajiv Gandhi in 1987 to “save Congress culture in Maharashtra”, and soon became Chief Minister of Maharashtra. 

After a short stint as defence minister and failure to become president of the Congress party, he broke away and formed the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) along with Tariq Anwar in 1999, citing Italian-born Sonia Gandhi’s appointment as Prime Ministerial candidate. despite the differences, the NCP continued to be an ally of the Congress.

6. Yogendra Yadav

One of the founding members of the Aam Aadmi Party and formerly Arvind Kejriwal’s close aide, Yogendra Yadav, along with Prashant Bhushan, started having problems with Kejriwal’s dictatorial ways and his new inner circle in 2015. The dissent that came just after AAP’s sparkling victory in Delhi elections caused much embarrassment, as the leader came out in the streets against Kejriwal.

Yadav was voted out of AAP’s political affairs committee in March 2015, and was later expelled on charges of “anti party activities”. After what was to be the first of many turmoils for Arvind Kejriwal, Yadav and Bhushan formed a new organisation called the Swaraj Abhiyan.

7. Mamata Banerjee.

The fiery leader also known as Didi of Trinamool Congress, started off as the angry young woman of Indian National Congress in West Bengal, and grew to prominence by defeating CPI-M veteran Somnath Chatterjee in 1984 general elections. She served the party till 1997, when she decided to part ways and form the Trinamool Congress which proved to be a tough contender for CPI-M in Bengal.

Later, Mamata Banerjee joined the BJP led NDA in 1999 and became Railway Minister, only to leave the coalition in 2001 and ally with Congress. She then returned to NDA in 2004, and then again allied with the UPA in 2009, when CPI-M left the coalition.

8. Raj Thackeray

Although the defector from the Shiv Sena has not achieved much success, Raj Thackeray’s revolt was also against his own family, as he stood against uncle and mentor Bal Thackeray. Raj’s resignation from the Sena and formation of the MNS brought the succession row out in the open, as cousin Uddhav was announced Bal Thackeray’s heir.

Apart from his infamous aggressive stance against north Indians, Raj was also able to trouble Shiv Sena by rising as a challenger for the post of the top regional party in Maharashtra. Like the Shiv Sena, the MNS has also been known for strong arm tactics.

9. Ram Jethmalani

Rising on the political map by his opposition to Indira Gandhi and his campaign against emergency from exile in Canada, Jethmalani formed his own party in 1995 and later served as Law minister in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee-led government in 1996, he again served as law minister from 1999, but was forced to resigned by Vajpayee, with whom he had differences and even contested against in 2004 general elections.

While he always had differences with fellow party members, he was finally expelled in 2013 after he wrote in a letter to Nitin Gadkari that the BJP was sick and was “silent against huge corruption” in UPA. He later filed a defamation suit against BJP, for saying that he was not a fit person to be a member of the party.

10. Arun Shourie

Another BJP veteran known to speak his mind, Shourie also rose to prominence for writing against the emergency in the Indian Express. He served as Minister of Disinvestment, Communication and Information Technology under Vajpayees Prime Ministership, and was also rankes as the most outstanding minister in that cabinet.

He voiced his dissent after BJP’s loss in 2009 general elections, saying the party needed to introspect, and openly deplored factionalism. Although he is a supporter of the RSS, Shourie was finally disowned by the BJP when he said that Modi government was interested more in “managing the headlines”.

Although changing political equations and people leaving and rejoining political factions is part and parcel of Indian politics from mythological Vibhishan to Jitan Ram Manjhi, there are some defections that left a lasting effect, and others that paved the way for major political careers. 

Feature image source: AFP