The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; ; ) is a political party in
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
, and one of the two major
Indian political parties
India has a multi-party system. The Election Commission of India (ECI) accords recognition to the national level and the state level political parties based upon objective criteria. A recognised political party enjoys privileges like a reserve ...
alongside the
Indian National Congress
The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party but often simply the Congress, is a political party in India with widespread roots. Founded in 1885, it was the first modern nationalist movement to emerge in the British Em ...
. Since 2014, it has been the
ruling political party in India under
Narendra Modi
Narendra Damodardas Modi (; born 17 September 1950) is an Indian politician serving as the 14th and current Prime Minister of India since 2014. Modi was the Chief Minister of Gujarat from 2001 to 2014 and is the Member of Parliament from ...
, the incumbent
Indian prime minister
The prime minister of India (IAST: ) is the head of government of the Republic of India. Executive authority is vested in the prime minister and their chosen Council of Ministers, despite the president of India being the nominal head of the ...
.
The BJP is aligned with
right-wing politics
Right-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that view certain social orders and hierarchies as inevitable, natural, normal, or desirable, typically supporting this position on the basis of natural law, economics, author ...
, and its policies have historically reflected a traditional
Hindu nationalist
Hindu nationalism has been collectively referred to as the expression of social and political thought, based on the native spiritual and cultural traditions of the Indian subcontinent. "Hindu nationalism" or the correct term ''Hindū rāṣṭ ...
ideology; it has close ideological and organisational links to the
Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh
The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh ( ; , , ) is an Indian right-wing, Hindu nationalist, paramilitary volunteer organisation. The RSS is the progenitor and leader of a large body of organisations called the Sangh Parivar (Hindi for "Sangh family" ...
(RSS). , it is the country's largest political party in terms of representation in the
Parliament of India
The Parliament of India (International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration, IAST: ) is the supreme legislative body of the Republic of India. It is a bicameralism, bicameral legislature composed of the president of India and two houses: the R ...
as well as
state legislatures
A state legislature is a legislative branch or body of a political subdivision in a federal system.
Two federations literally use the term "state legislature":
* The legislative branches of each of the fifty state governments of the United Stat ...
.
The party's origins lie in the
Bharatiya Jana Sangh
The Bharatiya Jana Sangh ( BJS or JS, short name: Jan Sangh, full name: Akhil Bharatiya Jana Sangh; ) (ISO 15919: '' Akhila Bhāratīya Jana Saṅgha '' ) was an Indian right wing political party that existed from 1951 to 1977 and was the pol ...
, which was founded in 1951 by Indian politician
Shyama Prasad Mukherjee
Syama Prasad Mukherjee (6 July 1901 – 23 June 1953) was an Indian politician, barrister and academician, who served as India's first Minister for Industry and Supply (currently known as Ministry of Commerce and Industry) in Jawaharlal Nehru' ...
. After
The Emergency of 1975–1977, the Jana Sangh merged with several other political parties to form the
Janata Party
The Janata Party ( JP, lit. ''People's Party'') was a political party that was founded as an amalgam of Indian political parties opposed to the Emergency that was imposed between 1975 and 1977 by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi of the Indian Nati ...
; it defeated the then-incumbent Indian National Congress in the
1977 general election. After three years in power, the Janata Party dissolved in 1980, with the members of the erstwhile Jana Sangh reconvening to form the modern-day BJP. Although initially unsuccessful—winning only two seats in the
1984 general election—it grew in strength on the back of the movement around
Ram Janmabhoomi
Ram Janmabhoomi (literally, "Rama's birthplace") is the site that is hypothesized to be the birthplace of Rama, believed to be the seventh avatar of the Hindu deity Vishnu. The Ramayana states that the location of Rama's birthplace is on the ...
in
Uttar Pradesh
Uttar Pradesh (; , 'Northern Province') is a state in northern India. With over 200 million inhabitants, it is the most populated state in India as well as the most populous country subdivision in the world. It was established in 1950 ...
. Following victories in several state elections and better performances in national elections, the BJP became the largest political party in the Parliament in 1996; however, it lacked a majority in the lower house of Parliament, and its government, under its then-leader
Atal Bihari Vajpayee
Atal Bihari Vajpayee (; 25 December 1924 – 16 August 2018) was an Indian politician who served three terms as the 10th prime minister of India, first for a term of 13 days in 1996, then for a period of 13 months fr ...
, lasted for only 13 days.
After the
1998 general election, the BJP-led coalition known as the
National Democratic Alliance
National Democratic Alliance (NDA) () is a Centre-right politics, centre-right to Right-wing politics, right-wing and Conservatism, conservative Indian big tent political alliance led by the right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). It was foun ...
(NDA) under prime minister Vajpayee formed a government that lasted for a year. Following fresh elections, the NDA government—again headed by Vajpayee—lasted for a full term in office; this was the first non-Congress government to do so. In the
2004 general election, the NDA suffered an unexpected defeat, and for the next ten years, the BJP was the principal opposition party. However, Narendra Modi, who was then serving as the
chief minister of Gujarat
The Chief Minister of Gujarat is the chief executive of the government of the Indian state of Gujarat. The governor appoints the chief minister, whose council of ministers are collectively responsible to the assembly. The chief minister's term ...
, led it to a landslide victory in the
2014 general election. Since that general election, Modi has led the NDA government as Indian prime minister and, , the alliance governs 16 States and union territories of India.
The official ideology of the BJP is
integral humanism, which was first formulated by Indian politician
Deendayal Upadhyaya
Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya (25 September 1916 – 11 February 1968) was an Indian politician, proponent of integral humanism ideology and leader of the political party Bharatiya Jana Sangh (BJS), the forerunner of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ...
in 1965. The party advocates
social conservatism
Social conservatism is a political philosophy and variety of conservatism which places emphasis on traditional power structures over social pluralism. Social conservatives organize in favor of duty, traditional values and social institutio ...
and a foreign policy centred on nationalist principles. Since its assumption of power in 2014, its key-focus issues have included
Article 370 of the Constitution of India
Article 370 of the Indian constitution
gave special status to Jammu and Kashmir, a region located in the northern part of Indian subcontinent and part of the larger region of Kashmir which has been the subject of a dispute between India, Pak ...
, which conferred a special autonomous status to
Jammu and Kashmir Jammu and Kashmir may refer to:
* Kashmir, the northernmost geographical region of the Indian subcontinent
* Jammu and Kashmir (union territory), a region administered by India as a union territory
* Jammu and Kashmir (state), a region administered ...
; the building of the
Ram Mandir
Ram Mandir is a Hindu temple that is being built in Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh, India, at the site of Ram Janmabhoomi, according to the ''Ramayana'' the birthplace of Rama, a principal deity of Hinduism. The temple construction is being supervised ...
in
Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh
Ayodhya (; ) is a city situated on the banks of holy river Saryu in the States and union territories of India, Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.
Ayodhya, also known as Sāketa, Saketa, is an ancient city of India, the birthplace of Rama and ...
; and the implementation of the proposed
Uniform Civil Code
The Uniform Civil Code (Hindi: समान नागरिक संहिता, IAST: Samāna Nāgarika Saṃhitā) is a proposal in India to formulate and implement personal laws of citizens which apply on all citizens equally regardless ...
. Conversely, the 1998–2004 NDA government did not pursue any of these controversial issues, focusing instead on a largely
liberal economic policy that prioritised
globalisation
Globalization, or globalisation (Commonwealth English; see spelling differences), is the process of interaction and integration among people, companies, and governments worldwide. The term ''globalization'' first appeared in the early 20t ...
and
economic growth
Economic growth can be defined as the increase or improvement in the inflation-adjusted market value of the goods and services produced by an economy in a financial year. Statisticians conventionally measure such growth as the percent rate of ...
over
social welfare
Welfare, or commonly social welfare, is a type of government support intended to ensure that members of a society can meet Basic needs, basic human needs such as food and shelter. Social security may either be synonymous with welfare, or refe ...
. Two of these policies have been implemented since 2014. On 5 August 2019, the newly re-elected BJP government
revoked the special status of Jammu and Kashmir, and on 9 November 2019, the
Supreme Court of India
The Supreme Court of India ( IAST: ) is the supreme judicial authority of India and is the highest court of the Republic of India under the constitution. It is the most senior constitutional court, has the final decision in all legal matters ...
passed the final verdict on the case of the
Ayodhya dispute
The Ayodhya dispute is a political, historical, and socio-religious debate in India, centred on a plot of land in the city of Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh. The issues revolve around the control of a site traditionally regarded among Hindus to be the ...
that handed over the land to a trust organization to build the Ram Mandir, a major
Hindu temple
A Hindu temple, or ''mandir'' or ''koil'' in Indian languages, is a house, seat and body of divinity for Hindus. It is a structure designed to bring human beings and gods together through worship, sacrifice, and devotion.; Quote: "The Hind ...
.
The
V-Dem Institute
The V-Dem Institute (Varieties of Democracy) is an independent research institute founded by Professor Staffan I. Lindberg in 2014 that studies the qualities of government. The institute is funded by a number of government organizations, Worl ...
described India in a report as experiencing nationwide
democratic backsliding
Democratic backsliding, also called autocratization, is the decline in the democratic characteristics of a political system, and is the opposite of democratization. Democracy is the most popular form of government, with more than half of the nat ...
under
post-2014 BJP rule.
[Nazifa Alizada, Rowan Cole, Lisa Gastaldi, Sandra Grahn, Sebastian Hellmeier, Palina Kolvani, Jean Lachapelle, Anna Lührmann, Seraphine F. Maerz, Shreeya Pillai, and Staffan I. Lindberg. 2021. Autocratization Turns Viral. Democracy Report 2021. University of Gothenburg: V-Dem Institute. https://www.v-dem.net/media/filer_public/74/8c/748c68ad-f224-4cd7-87f9-8794add5c60f/dr_2021_updated.pdf ]
History
Predecessors
Bharatiya Jana Sangh (1951–77)
The BJP's origins lie in the
Bharatiya Jana Sangh
The Bharatiya Jana Sangh ( BJS or JS, short name: Jan Sangh, full name: Akhil Bharatiya Jana Sangh; ) (ISO 15919: '' Akhila Bhāratīya Jana Saṅgha '' ) was an Indian right wing political party that existed from 1951 to 1977 and was the pol ...
, popularly known as the Jana Sangh, founded by
Syama Prasad Mukherjee
Syama Prasad Mukherjee (6 July 1901 – 23 June 1953) was an Indian politician, barrister and academician, who served as India's first Minister for Industry and Supply (currently known as Ministry of Commerce and Industry) in Jawaharlal Nehru' ...
in 1951 in response to the politics of the dominant
Congress party
The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party but often simply the Congress, is a political party in India with widespread roots. Founded in 1885, it was the first modern nationalist movement to emerge in the British Em ...
. It was founded in collaboration with the
Hindu nationalist
Hindu nationalism has been collectively referred to as the expression of social and political thought, based on the native spiritual and cultural traditions of the Indian subcontinent. "Hindu nationalism" or the correct term ''Hindū rāṣṭ ...
volunteer organisation, the
Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh
The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh ( ; , , ) is an Indian right-wing, Hindu nationalist, paramilitary volunteer organisation. The RSS is the progenitor and leader of a large body of organisations called the Sangh Parivar (Hindi for "Sangh family" ...
(RSS), and was widely regarded as the political arm of the RSS. The Jana Sangh's aims included the protection of India's "Hindu" cultural identity, in addition to countering what it perceived to be the appeasement of Muslim people and the country of
Pakistan
Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...
by the
Congress party
The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party but often simply the Congress, is a political party in India with widespread roots. Founded in 1885, it was the first modern nationalist movement to emerge in the British Em ...
and then-Prime Minister
Jawaharlal Nehru
Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru (; ; ; 14 November 1889 – 27 May 1964) was an Indian anti-colonial nationalist, secular humanist, social democrat—
*
*
*
* and author who was a central figure in India during the middle of the 20t ...
. The RSS loaned several of its leading ''
pracharak
The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh ( ; , , ) is an Indian right-wing, Hindu nationalist, paramilitary volunteer organisation. The RSS is the progenitor and leader of a large body of organisations called the Sangh Parivar (Hindi for "Sangh family") ...
s'', or full-time workers, to the Jana Sangh to get the new party off the ground. Prominent among these was
Deendayal Upadhyaya
Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya (25 September 1916 – 11 February 1968) was an Indian politician, proponent of integral humanism ideology and leader of the political party Bharatiya Jana Sangh (BJS), the forerunner of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ...
, who was appointed General Secretary. The Jana Sangh won only three
Lok Sabha
The Lok Sabha, constitutionally the House of the People, is the lower house of India's bicameral Parliament, with the upper house being the Rajya Sabha. Members of the Lok Sabha are elected by an adult universal suffrage and a first-past ...
seats in the
first general elections in 1952. It maintained a minor presence in parliament until 1967.
The Jana Sangh's first major campaign, begun in early 1953, centred on a demand for the complete integration of
Jammu and Kashmir Jammu and Kashmir may refer to:
* Kashmir, the northernmost geographical region of the Indian subcontinent
* Jammu and Kashmir (union territory), a region administered by India as a union territory
* Jammu and Kashmir (state), a region administered ...
into India. Mukherjee was arrested in May 1953 for violating orders from the state government restraining him from entering Kashmir. He died of a heart attack the following month, while still in jail.
Mauli Chandra Sharma
Mauli Chandra Sharma (M. C. Sharma) was a senior Indian politician, originally of the Indian National Congress. He was a founding member of the Bharatiya Jana Sangh, serving as its Vice-President and President, before being forced out by the Rash ...
was elected to succeed Mukherjee; however, he was forced out of power by the RSS activists within the party, and the leadership went instead to Upadhyaya. Upadhyay remained the General Secretary until 1967, and worked to build a committed grassroots organisation in the image of the RSS. The party minimised engagement with the public, focusing instead on building its network of propagandists. Upadhyaya also articulated the philosophy of
integral humanism, which formed the official doctrine of the party. Younger leaders, such as
Atal Bihari Vajpayee
Atal Bihari Vajpayee (; 25 December 1924 – 16 August 2018) was an Indian politician who served three terms as the 10th prime minister of India, first for a term of 13 days in 1996, then for a period of 13 months fr ...
and
Lal Krishna Advani
Lal Krishna Advani (born 8 November 1927) is an Indian politician who served as the 7th Deputy Prime Minister of India from 2002 to 2004. Advani is one of the co-founders and a senior leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party. He is a longtime memb ...
also became involved with the leadership in this period, with Vajpayee succeeding Upadhyaya as president in 1968. The major themes on the party's agenda during this period were legislating a
uniform civil code
The Uniform Civil Code (Hindi: समान नागरिक संहिता, IAST: Samāna Nāgarika Saṃhitā) is a proposal in India to formulate and implement personal laws of citizens which apply on all citizens equally regardless ...
, banning
cow slaughter
Due to the multiple benefits from cattle, there are varying beliefs about cattle in societies and religions. In some regions, especially most states of India, the slaughter of cattle is prohibited and their meat may be taboo.
Cattle are consider ...
and abolishing the
special status given to Jammu and Kashmir.
After assembly elections across the country in 1967, the party entered into a coalition with several other parties, including the
Swatantra Party
The Swatantra Party was an Indian classical liberal political party, that existed from 1959 to 1974. It was founded by C. Rajagopalachari in reaction to what he felt was the Jawaharlal Nehru-dominated Indian National Congress's increasingly soci ...
and the socialists. It formed governments in various states across the
Hindi heartland
The Hindi Belt, also known as the Hindi Heartland, is a linguistic region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern and western India where various Central Indo-Aryan languages subsumed under the term 'Hindi' (for example, by the Ind ...
, including
Madhya Pradesh
Madhya Pradesh (, ; meaning 'central province') is a state in central India. Its capital is Bhopal, and the largest city is Indore, with Jabalpur, Ujjain, Gwalior, Sagar, and Rewa being the other major cities. Madhya Pradesh is the seco ...
,
Bihar
Bihar (; ) is a state in eastern India. It is the 2nd largest state by population in 2019, 12th largest by area of , and 14th largest by GDP in 2021. Bihar borders Uttar Pradesh to its west, Nepal to the north, the northern part of West Be ...
and
Uttar Pradesh
Uttar Pradesh (; , 'Northern Province') is a state in northern India. With over 200 million inhabitants, it is the most populated state in India as well as the most populous country subdivision in the world. It was established in 1950 ...
. It was the first time the Jana Sangh held political office, albeit within a coalition; this caused the shelving of the Jana Sangh's more radical agenda.
Janata Party (1977–80)
In 1975, Prime Minister
Indira Gandhi
Indira Priyadarshini Gandhi (; Given name, ''née'' Nehru; 19 November 1917 – 31 October 1984) was an Indian politician and a central figure of the Indian National Congress. She was elected as third prime minister of India in 1966 ...
imposed a
state of emergency
A state of emergency is a situation in which a government is empowered to be able to put through policies that it would normally not be permitted to do, for the safety and protection of its citizens. A government can declare such a state du ...
. The Jana Sangh took part in the widespread protests, with thousands of its members being imprisoned along with other agitators across the country. In 1977, the emergency was withdrawn and general elections were held. The Jana Sangh merged with parties from across the political spectrum, including the
Socialist Party
Socialist Party is the name of many different political parties around the world. All of these parties claim to uphold some form of socialism, though they may have very different interpretations of what "socialism" means. Statistically, most of th ...
, the
Congress (O)
The Indian National Congress (Organisation) also known as Congress (O) or Syndicate/Old Congress was a political party in India formed when the Congress party split following the expulsion of Indira Gandhi.
On 12 November 1969, the Prime Minist ...
and the
Bharatiya Lok Dal
Bharatiya Lok Dal (English: Indian Peoples' Party) was a political party in India. The BLD or simply BL was formed at the end of 1974 through the fusion of seven parties opposed to the rule of Indira Gandhi, including the Swatantra Party, th ...
to form the Janata Party, with its main agenda being defeating Indira Gandhi.
The Janata Party won a majority in 1977 and formed a government with
Morarji Desai
Morarji Ranchhodji Desai (29 February 1896 – 10 April 1995) was an Indian independence activist and politician who served as the 4th Prime Minister of India between 1977 to 1979 leading the government formed by the Janata Party. During his ...
as Prime Minister. The former Jana Sangh contributed the largest tally to the Janata Party's parliamentary contingent, with 93 seats or 31% of its strength.
Vajpayee, previously the leader of the Jana Sangh, was appointed the
Minister of External Affairs In many countries, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is the government department responsible for the state's diplomacy, bilateral, and multilateral relations affairs as well as for providing support for a country's citizens who are abroad. The entit ...
.
The national leadership of the former Jana Sangh consciously renounced its identity, and attempted to integrate with the political culture of the Janata Party, based on Gandhian and Hindu traditionalist principles. According to
Christophe Jaffrelot
Christophe Jaffrelot (born 12 February 1964) is a French political scientist and Indologist specialising in South Asia, particularly India and Pakistan. He is a professor of South Asian politics and history the ''Centre d'études et de recherches ...
, this proved to be impossible assimilation. The state and local levels of the Jana Sangh remained relatively unchanged, retaining a strong association with the RSS, which did not sit well with the moderate centre-right constituents of the Party.
Violence between Hindus and Muslims increased sharply during the years that the Janata Party formed the government, with former Jana Sangha members being implicated in the riots at
Aligarh
Aligarh (; formerly known as Allygarh, and Kol) is a city in the state of Uttar Pradesh in India. It is the administrative headquarters of Aligarh district, and lies northwest of state capital Lucknow and approximately southeast of the capita ...
and
Jamshedpur
Jamshedpur (, ) or Tatanagar is the largest and most populous city in Jharkhand and the first planned industrial city in India. It is a Notified Area Council and Municipal Corporation and also the headquarter of the East Singhbhum district. It ...
in 1978–79. The other major constituents of the Janata Party demanded that the Jana Sangh should break from the RSS, which the Jana Sangh refused to do. Eventually, a fragment of the Janata Party broke off to form the
Janata Party (Secular)
The Janata Party (Secular) was an Indian political party founded by Raj Narain in July, 1979. On 16 July 1979, Charan Singh assumed its leadership and became the Prime Minister of India on 28 July 1979 with the support of the Indian National Cong ...
. The
Morarji Desai
Morarji Ranchhodji Desai (29 February 1896 – 10 April 1995) was an Indian independence activist and politician who served as the 4th Prime Minister of India between 1977 to 1979 leading the government formed by the Janata Party. During his ...
government was reduced to a minority in the Parliament, forcing its resignation. Following a brief period of coalition rule, general elections were held in 1980, in which the Janata Party fared poorly, winning only 31 seats. In April 1980, shortly after the elections, the National Executive Council of the Janata Party banned its members from being 'dual members' of party and the RSS. In response, the former Jana Sangh members left to create a new political party, known as the Bharatiya Janata Party.
BJP (1980–present)
Formation and early days
Although the newly formed BJP was technically distinct from the Jana Sangh, the bulk of its rank and file were identical to its predecessor, with Vajpayee being its first president. Historian
Ramachandra Guha
Ramachandra "Ram" Guha (born 29 April 1958) is an Indian historian, environmentalist, writer and public intellectual whose research interests include social, political, contemporary, environmental and cricket history, and the field of economics. ...
writes that the early 1980s were marked by a wave of violence between Hindus and Muslims. The BJP initially moderated the
Hindu nationalist
Hindu nationalism has been collectively referred to as the expression of social and political thought, based on the native spiritual and cultural traditions of the Indian subcontinent. "Hindu nationalism" or the correct term ''Hindū rāṣṭ ...
stance of its predecessor the Jana Sangh to gain a wider appeal, emphasising its links to the Janata Party and the ideology of
Gandhian Socialism
Gandhian socialism is the branch of socialism based on the national interpretation of the theories of Mahatma Gandhi. Gandhian socialism generally centers on ''Hind Swaraj or Indian Home Rule'' authored by Gandhi.
Federation of political an ...
. This was unsuccessful, as it won only two
Lok Sabha
The Lok Sabha, constitutionally the House of the People, is the lower house of India's bicameral Parliament, with the upper house being the Rajya Sabha. Members of the Lok Sabha are elected by an adult universal suffrage and a first-past ...
seats in the
elections of 1984. The
assassination of Indira Gandhi
Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was assassinated at 9:30 a.m. on 31 October 1984 at her residence in Safdarjung Road, New Delhi. She was killed by her bodyguards Satwant Singh and Beant Singh in the aftermath of Operation Blue Star, an I ...
a few months earlier resulted in a wave of support for the
Congress
A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of a ...
which won a record tally of 403 seats, contributing to the low number for the BJP.
Ram Janmabhoomi movement
![Advani Yatra 1990](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d0/Advani_Yatra_1990.svg)
The failure of Vajpayee's moderate strategy led to a shift in the ideology of the party toward a policy of more hardline Hindu nationalism. In 1984, Advani was appointed president of the party, and under him it became the political voice of the
Ram Janmabhoomi
Ram Janmabhoomi (literally, "Rama's birthplace") is the site that is hypothesized to be the birthplace of Rama, believed to be the seventh avatar of the Hindu deity Vishnu. The Ramayana states that the location of Rama's birthplace is on the ...
movement. In the early 1980s, the
Vishwa Hindu Parishad
The Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) () is an Indian right-wing Hindu organization based on Hindu nationalism. The VHP was founded in 1964 by M. S. Golwalkar and S. S. Apte in collaboration with Swami Chinmayananda. Its stated objective is "to ...
(VHP) began a campaign for the construction of a
temple
A temple (from the Latin ) is a building reserved for spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. Religions which erect temples include Christianity (whose temples are typically called churches), Hinduism (whose temples ...
dedicated to the Hindu deity
Rama
Rama (; ), Ram, Raman or Ramar, also known as Ramachandra (; , ), is a major deity in Hinduism. He is the seventh and one of the most popular '' avatars'' of Vishnu. In Rama-centric traditions of Hinduism, he is considered the Supreme Bein ...
at the
disputed site of the
Babri Mosque
Babri Masjid (IAST: Bābarī Masjid; meaning ''Mosque of Babur'') was a mosque in Ayodhya, India, at a site believed by many Hindus to be the birthplace of Hindu deity Rama. It has been a Ayodhya dispute, focus of dispute between the Hindu an ...
in
Ayodhya
Ayodhya (; ) is a city situated on the banks of holy river Saryu in the States and union territories of India, Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.
Ayodhya, also known as Sāketa, Saketa, is an ancient city of India, the birthplace of Rama and ...
. The mosque had been constructed by the Mughal Emperor
Babur
Babur ( fa, , lit= tiger, translit= Bābur; ; 14 February 148326 December 1530), born Mīrzā Zahīr ud-Dīn Muhammad, was the founder of the Mughal Empire in the Indian subcontinent. He was a descendant of Timur and Genghis Khan through his ...
in 1527. There is a dispute about whether a temple once stood there. The agitation was on the basis of the belief that the site is the birthplace of Rama, and that a temple had been demolished to construct the mosque. The BJP threw its support behind this campaign and made it a part of their election platform. It won 86
Lok Sabha
The Lok Sabha, constitutionally the House of the People, is the lower house of India's bicameral Parliament, with the upper house being the Rajya Sabha. Members of the Lok Sabha are elected by an adult universal suffrage and a first-past ...
seats in 1989, a tally which made its support crucial to the
National Front government of
V. P. Singh.
In September 1990, Advani began a ''
rath yatra
Ratha Yatra (), or Chariot festival, is any public procession in a chariot. The term particularly refers to the annual Ratha Yatra in Odisha, Jharkhand, West Bengal and other East Indian states, particularly the Odia festival that involve a ...
'' (chariot journey) to Ayodhya in support of the Ram temple movement. According to Guha, the imagery employed by the ''yatra'' was "religious, allusive, militant, masculine, and anti-Muslim", and the speeches delivered by Advani during the ''yatra'' accused the government of appeasing Muslims and practising "
pseudo-secularism
In the Indian context, the term pseudo-secularism is used to pejoratively describe policies considered to involve minoritarianism, minority appeasement. The Hindus form the majority religious community in India; the term "pseudo-secular" implies ...
" that obstructed the legitimate aspirations of Hindus. Advani defended the yatra, stating that it had been free of the incident from
Somnath to
Ayodhya
Ayodhya (; ) is a city situated on the banks of holy river Saryu in the States and union territories of India, Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.
Ayodhya, also known as Sāketa, Saketa, is an ancient city of India, the birthplace of Rama and ...
, and that the English media were to blame for the violence that followed. Advani was placed under preventive detention on the orders of the then
Bihar
Bihar (; ) is a state in eastern India. It is the 2nd largest state by population in 2019, 12th largest by area of , and 14th largest by GDP in 2021. Bihar borders Uttar Pradesh to its west, Nepal to the north, the northern part of West Be ...
chief minister
Lalu Prasad Yadav
Lalu Prasad Yadav (born 11 June 1948) is an Indian politician and president of the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD). He is a former List of Chief Ministers of Bihar, Chief Minister of Bihar (1990-1997), a former Ministry of Railways (India), Railway ...
. A large number of ''
kar sevaks'' (religious volunteers) nonetheless converged at Ayodhya. On the orders of
Uttar Pradesh
Uttar Pradesh (; , 'Northern Province') is a state in northern India. With over 200 million inhabitants, it is the most populated state in India as well as the most populous country subdivision in the world. It was established in 1950 ...
chief minister
Mulayam Singh Yadav
Mulayam Singh Yadav (22 November 1939 – 10 October 2022) was an Indian politician, a socialist figure and the founder of the Samajwadi Party. In the course of his political career spanning more than six decades, he served for three terms as ...
, 150,000 of them were detained, yet half as many managed to reach Ayodhya and some attacked the mosque. Three days of fighting with the paramilitary forces ended with the deaths of several ''kar sevaks''. Hindus were urged by VHP to "take revenge" for these deaths, resulting in riots against Muslims across Uttar Pradesh. The BJP withdrew its support from the V.P. Singh government, leading to fresh general elections. It once again increased its tally, to 120 seats, and won a majority in the
Uttar Pradesh
Uttar Pradesh (; , 'Northern Province') is a state in northern India. With over 200 million inhabitants, it is the most populated state in India as well as the most populous country subdivision in the world. It was established in 1950 ...
assembly.
On 6 December 1992, the RSS and its affiliates organised a rally involving more than 100,000 VHP and BJP activists at the site of the mosque. Under circumstances that are not entirely clear, the rally developed into a frenzied attack that ended with the
demolition of the mosque. Over the following weeks, waves of violence between Hindus and Muslims erupted all over the country, killing over 2,000 people. The government briefly banned the VHP, and many BJP leaders, including Advani were arrested for making inflammatory speeches provoking the demolition. Several historians have said that the demolition was the product of a conspiracy by the Sangh Parivar, and not a spontaneous act.
A
2009 report, authored by Justice
Manmohan Singh Liberhan
Manmohan Singh Liberhan (born 11 November 1938) is a retired Chief Justice of the Andhra Pradesh High Court, India. For 17 years he headed the Liberhan Ayodhya Commission of Inquiry, which prepared a report on the Babri Mosque demolition.
Care ...
, found that 68 people were responsible for the demolition, mostly leaders from the BJP. Among those named were Vajpayee, Advani, and
Murli Manohar Joshi
Murli Manohar Joshi (born 5 January 1934) is an Indian politician. He is a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of which he was the President between 1991 and 1993, and the former Member of Parliament for Kanpur parliamentary constitue ...
. The report also criticised
Kalyan Singh
Kalyan Singh (5 January 1932 – 21 August 2021) was an Indian politician and a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). He served twice as the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh and as a Member of Parliament. He was the Chief minister of Utt ...
, Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh during the demolition. He was accused of posting bureaucrats and police officers who would stay silent during the demolition. Anju Gupta, an
Indian Police Service
The Indian Police Service ( IPS) is a civil service under the All India Services. It replaced the Indian Imperial Police in 1948, a year after India became independent from the British Raj.
Along with the Indian Administrative Service (IAS ...
officer in charge of Advani's security, appeared as a prominent witness before the commission. She said that Advani and Joshi made provocative speeches that were a major factor in the mob's behaviour. However, in a judgement on 30 September 2020, the
Supreme Court of India
The Supreme Court of India ( IAST: ) is the supreme judicial authority of India and is the highest court of the Republic of India under the constitution. It is the most senior constitutional court, has the final decision in all legal matters ...
acquitted all of the accused in the demolition including Advani and Joshi.
In the parliamentary elections in 1996, the BJP capitalised on the communal polarisation that followed the demolition to win 161 Lok Sabha seats, making it the largest party in parliament. Vajpayee was sworn in as Prime Minister but was unable to attain a majority in the Lok Sabha, forcing the government to resign after 13 days.
''Ekta Yatra'' (1991–1992)
In December 1991, then-BJP President Murli Manohar Joshi held another ''yatra'', the
''Ekta'' ''Yatra'', intended to signal that BJP supported national unity and opposed
separatist movements. It began on 11 December in
Kanyakumari
Kanniyakumari (; , referring to Devi Kanya Kumari), also known as Cape Comorin, is a city in Kanniyakumari district in the state of Tamil Nadu, India. It is the southern tip of the Indian subcontinent and the southernmost city in mainland Ind ...
,
Tamil Nadu
Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a States and union territories of India, state in southern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of India ...
and visited 14 states.
The rally's final stop to hoist the
Indian flag
The national flag of India, Colloquialism, colloquially called the tricolour, is a horizontal rectangular tricolour flag of Saffron (color)#India saffron, India saffron, white and Variations of green#India green, India green; with the ', a 24 ...
in Jammu and Kashmir on 26 January 1992 was considered unsuccessful, with minimal local participation.
NDA government (1998–2004)
A coalition of regional parties formed the government in 1996, but this grouping was short-lived, and mid-term polls were held in 1998. The BJP contested the elections leading a coalition called the
National Democratic Alliance
National Democratic Alliance (NDA) () is a Centre-right politics, centre-right to Right-wing politics, right-wing and Conservatism, conservative Indian big tent political alliance led by the right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). It was foun ...
(NDA), which contained its existing allies like the
Samata Party
The Samata Party (SAP) is a political party in India, initially formed in 1994 by George Fernandes and Nitish Kumar, now led by Uday Mandal its National President. Samata Party once launched Nitish Kumar as the Chief Minister of Bihar. It was ...
, the
Shiromani Akali Dal
The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) (translation: ''Supreme Akali Party'') is a centre-right sikh-centric state political party in Punjab, India. The party is the second-oldest in India, after Congress, being founded in 1920. Although there are many ...
, the
Shiv Sena
Shiv Sena ( IAST: ''Śiva Sēnā'') () was a right-wing to far-right Marathi regionalist and Hindu ultranationalist political party in India founded in 1966 by cartoonist Bal Thackeray. Originally emerging from nativist movements in Bom ...
in addition to the
All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam
The All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (; AIADMK) is an Indian regional political party with great influence in the state of Tamil Nadu and the union territory of Puducherry. It is a Dravidian party founded by the former chief mini ...
(AIADMK) and the
Biju Janata Dal
The Biju Janata Dal (; BJD) is a regional political party in the Indian state of Odisha founded and led by Naveen Patnaik, the current Chief Minister of Odisha and the son of former Chief Minister of Odisha Biju Patnaik, after whom the party i ...
. Among these regional parties, the Shiv Sena was the only one that had an ideology similar to the BJP;
Amartya Sen
Amartya Kumar Sen (; born 3 November 1933) is an Indian economist and philosopher, who since 1972 has taught and worked in the United Kingdom and the United States. Sen has made contributions to welfare economics, social choice theory, econom ...
, for example, called the coalition an "ad hoc" grouping. The NDA had a majority with outside support from the
Telugu Desam Party
The Telugu Desam Party (; TDP) is an Indian regional political party operating in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana at the state and central level. Since its founding by N. T. Rama Rao (often referred to as NTR) on 29 March 1982, the party has foc ...
(TDP) and Vajpayee returned as Prime Minister. However, the coalition ruptured in May 1999 when the leader of AIADMK,
Jayalalitha
Jayaram Jayalalithaa (24 February 1948 – 5 December 2016) was an Indian politician and actress who served as Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu for more than fourteen years over six terms between 1991 and 2016. From 9 February 1989 to 5 December 2 ...
, withdrew her support, and fresh elections were held again.
On 13 October 1999, the NDA, without the AIADMK, won 303 seats in parliament and thus an outright majority. The BJP had its highest ever tally of 183. Vajpayee became Prime Minister for the third time; Advani became Deputy Prime Minister and
Home Minister
The Minister of Home Affairs (or simply, the Home Minister, short-form HM) is the head of the Ministry of Home Affairs of the Government of India. One of the senior-most officers in the Union Cabinet, the chief responsibility of the Home Minist ...
. This NDA government lasted its full term of five years. Its policy agenda included a more aggressive stance on defence and terror as well as
neo-liberal
Neoliberalism (also neo-liberalism) is a term used to signify the late 20th century political reappearance of 19th-century ideas associated with free-market capitalism after it fell into decline following the Second World War. A prominent fa ...
economic policies.
In 2001,
Bangaru Laxman
Bangaru Laxman (17 March 1939 – 1 March 2014) was an Indian politician. He was a member of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). He was President of party from 2000 to 2001 and served as a minister of state for ra ...
, then the BJP president, was filmed accepting a bribe of to recommend the purchase of hand-held thermal imagers for the Indian Army to the Defence Ministry, in
a sting operation by ''Tehelka'' journalists. The BJP was forced to make him resign and he was subsequently prosecuted. In April 2012, he was sentenced to four years in prison.
2002 Gujarat violence
On 27 February 2002, a
train carrying Hindu pilgrims was burned outside the town of
Godhra
Godhra is a municipality in Panchmahal district in Indian state of Gujarat. It is the administrative headquarters of the Panchmahal district. Originally the name came from ''gou'' which means "cow" and ''dhara''- which have two meanings dependi ...
, killing 59 people. The incident was seen as an attack upon Hindus, and sparked off massive anti-Muslim violence across the state of
Gujarat
Gujarat (, ) is a state along the western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the fifth-largest Indian state by area, covering some ; and the ninth ...
that lasted several weeks. The death toll estimated was as high as 2000, while 150,000 were displaced. Rape, mutilation, and torture were also widespread. The then-Gujarat chief minister
Narendra Modi
Narendra Damodardas Modi (; born 17 September 1950) is an Indian politician serving as the 14th and current Prime Minister of India since 2014. Modi was the Chief Minister of Gujarat from 2001 to 2014 and is the Member of Parliament from ...
and several high-ranking government officials were accused of initiating and condoning the violence, as were police officers who allegedly directed the rioters and gave them lists of Muslim-owned properties. In April 2009, a Special Investigation Team (SIT) was appointed by the Supreme Court to investigate and expedite the Gujarat riots cases. In 2012, Modi was cleared of complicity in the violence by the SIT. BJP
MLA Maya Kodnani
Maya Surendrakumar Kodnani is a former Council of Ministers of Gujarat, Minister of State for Women and Child Development in the Government of Gujarat. Kodnani joined the Gujarat Legislative Assembly, 12th legislative assembly of Gujarat after ...
, who later held a cabinet portfolio in the Modi government, was convicted of having orchestrated one of the riots and sentenced to 28 years imprisonment; she was later acquitted by the
Gujarat High Court
The Gujarat High Court is the High Court of the state of Gujarat. It was established on 1 May 1960 under the ''Bombay Re-organisation Act, 1960'' after the state of Gujarat split from Bombay State.
The seat of the court is Ahmedabad. The prese ...
. Scholars such as
Paul Brass
Paul Richard Brass (November 8, 1936 – May 31, 2022) was an American political scientist known for his research on the politics of India. He was professor emeritus of political science and international relations at the Henry M. Jackson School o ...
,
Martha Nussbaum
Martha Craven Nussbaum (; born May 6, 1947) is an American philosopher and the current Ernst Freund Distinguished Service Professor of Law and Ethics at the University of Chicago, where she is jointly appointed in the law school and the philosoph ...
and
Dipankar Gupta
Dipankar Gupta (born 11 October 1949) is an Indian sociologist and public intellectual.
He was formerly Professor in the Centre for the Study of Social Systems, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. For a brief period from 1993 to 1994, he ...
have said that there was a high level of state complicity in the incidents.
General election defeats
Vajpayee called for
early elections in 2004, six months ahead of schedule. The NDA's campaign was based on the slogan "
India Shining
1. India Shining (Hindi: भारत उदय ) was a marketing slogan referring to the overall feeling of economic optimism in India in ''2004.''
2. The slogan was popularised by the then-ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for the 2004 Indi ...
", which sought to depict it as responsible for a rapid economic transformation of the country. However, the NDA unexpectedly suffered a heavy defeat, winning only 186 seats in the
Lok Sabha
The Lok Sabha, constitutionally the House of the People, is the lower house of India's bicameral Parliament, with the upper house being the Rajya Sabha. Members of the Lok Sabha are elected by an adult universal suffrage and a first-past ...
, compared to the 222 of the Congress and its allies.
Manmohan Singh
Manmohan Singh (; born 26 September 1932) is an Indian politician, economist and statesman who served as the 13th prime minister of India from 2004 to 2014. He is also the third longest-serving prime minister after Jawaharlal Nehru and Indir ...
succeeded Vajpayee as Prime Minister as the head of the
United Progressive Alliance
United Progressive Alliance (UPA) is a centre-left political alliance of predominantly left-leaning political parties in India. It was formed after the 2004 general election with support from left-leaning political parties when no single party ...
. The NDA's failure to reach out to rural Indians was provided as an explanation for its defeat, as was its divisive policy agenda.
In May 2008, the BJP won the
state elections in Karnataka. This was the first time that the party won assembly elections in any
South India
South India, also known as Dakshina Bharata or Peninsular India, consists of the peninsular southern part of India. It encompasses the Indian states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and Telangana, as well as the union territo ...
n state. In the
2009 general elections, its strength in the Lok Sabha was reduced to 116 seats. It lost the
Karnataka assembly election in 2013.
NDA government (2014–present)
In the
2014 Indian general election
General elections were held in India in nine phases from 7 April to 12 May 2014 to elect the members of the 16th Lok Sabha. With 834 million registered voters, they were the largest-ever elections in the world until being surpassed by the 2019 ...
, the BJP won 282 seats, leading the NDA to a tally of 336 seats in the 543-seat Lok Sabha. Narendra Modi was sworn in as the 14th
Prime Minister of India
The prime minister of India (IAST: ) is the head of government of the Republic of India. Executive authority is vested in the prime minister and their chosen Council of Ministers, despite the president of India being the nominal head of the ...
on 26 May 2014.
The vote share of the BJP was 31% of all votes cast, a low figure relative to the number of seats it won. This was the first instance since 1984 of a single party achieving an outright majority in the Indian Parliament and the first time that it achieved a majority in the Lok Sabha on its own strength. Support was concentrated in the
Hindi-speaking belt in North-central India. The magnitude of the victory was not predicted by most opinion and exit polls.
Political analysts have suggested several reasons for this victory, including the popularity of Modi, and the loss of support for the Congress due to the corruption scandals in its previous term. The BJP was also able to expand its traditionally upper-caste, upper-class support base and received significant support from middle-class and
Dalit
Dalit (from sa, दलित, dalita meaning "broken/scattered"), also previously known as untouchable, is the lowest stratum of the Caste system in India, castes in India. Dalits were excluded from the four-fold Varna (Hinduism), varna syste ...
people, as well as among
Other Backward Class
The Other Backward Class is a collective term used by the Government of India to classify castes which are educationally or socially backward. It is one of several official classifications of the population of India, along with General castes, S ...
es. Its support among Muslims remained low; only 8% of Muslim voters voted for the BJP. The BJP was also very successful at mobilising its supporters and raising voter turnout among them.
In 2019, the BJP won the general election with a majority. Soon after coming to power, on 5 August 2019, the
Modi administration
The premiership of Narendra Modi began on 26 May 2014 with his swearing-in as the prime minister of India at the Rashtrapati Bhavan. He became the 14th Prime Minister of India, succeeding Manmohan Singh of the Indian National Congress. Modi's f ...
revoked the special status, or
limited autonomy, granted under
Article 370
Article 370 of the Indian constitution
gave special status to Jammu and Kashmir, a region located in the northern part of Indian subcontinent and part of the larger region of Kashmir which has been the subject of a dispute between India, Pak ...
of the
Indian Constitution
The Constitution of India ( IAST: ) is the supreme law of India. The document lays down the framework that demarcates fundamental political code, structure, procedures, powers, and duties of government institutions and sets out fundamental r ...
to
Jammu and Kashmir Jammu and Kashmir may refer to:
* Kashmir, the northernmost geographical region of the Indian subcontinent
* Jammu and Kashmir (union territory), a region administered by India as a union territory
* Jammu and Kashmir (state), a region administered ...
—a region administered by
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
as a state and this states consists of the larger part of Kashmir which has been the subject of dispute among India,
Pakistan
Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...
, and
China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
since 1947.
Later in 2019, the
Modi government
The premiership of Narendra Modi began on 26 May 2014 with his swearing-in as the prime minister of India at the Rashtrapati Bhavan. He became the 14th Prime Minister of India, succeeding Manmohan Singh of the Indian National Congress. Modi's ...
introduced the
Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019
The Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 was passed by the Parliament of India on 11 December 2019. It amended the Citizenship Act, 1955 by providing a pathway to Indian citizenship for persecuted religious minorities from Afghanistan, Banglades ...
, which was passed by the
Parliament of India
The Parliament of India (International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration, IAST: ) is the supreme legislative body of the Republic of India. It is a bicameralism, bicameral legislature composed of the president of India and two houses: the R ...
on 11 December 2019. It amended the
Citizenship Act, 1955
Indian nationality law details the conditions by which a person holds Indian nationality. The two primary pieces of legislation governing these requirements are the Constitution of India and the Citizenship Act, 1955.
All persons born in Ind ...
by providing a path to Indian citizenship for illegal immigrants of
Hindu
Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism.Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...
,
Sikh
Sikhs ( or ; pa, ਸਿੱਖ, ' ) are people who adhere to Sikhism, Sikhism (Sikhi), a Monotheism, monotheistic religion that originated in the late 15th century in the Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent, based on the revelation of Gu ...
,
Buddhist
Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...
,
Jain
Jainism ( ), also known as Jain Dharma, is an Indian religion. Jainism traces its spiritual ideas and history through the succession of twenty-four tirthankaras (supreme preachers of ''Dharma''), with the first in the current time cycle being ...
,
Parsi
Parsis () or Parsees are an ethnoreligious group of the Indian subcontinent adhering to Zoroastrianism. They are descended from Persians who migrated to Medieval India during and after the Arab conquest of Iran (part of the early Muslim conq ...
, or
Christian
Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...
religion, who had
fled persecution from
Pakistan
Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...
,
Bangladesh
Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...
and
Afghanistan
Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...
before December 2014.
[Citizenship Amendment Bill: India's new 'anti-Muslim' law explained](_blank)
BBC News, 11 December 2019. Muslim
Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...
s from those countries were not given such eligibility.
The act was the first time religion had been overtly used as a criterion for citizenship under
Indian law
The legal system of India consists of civil, common law and customary, Islamic ethics, or religious law within the legal framework inherited from the colonial era and various legislation first introduced by the British are still in effect in ...
.
A report by the
V-Dem Institute
The V-Dem Institute (Varieties of Democracy) is an independent research institute founded by Professor Staffan I. Lindberg in 2014 that studies the qualities of government. The institute is funded by a number of government organizations, Worl ...
described India as experiencing
democratic backsliding
Democratic backsliding, also called autocratization, is the decline in the democratic characteristics of a political system, and is the opposite of democratization. Democracy is the most popular form of government, with more than half of the nat ...
during the
Modi-led BJP's rule.
Ideology and political positions
Social policies and Hindutva
The official philosophy of the BJP is "
Integral humanism," a philosophy first formulated by
Deendayal Upadhyaya
Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya (25 September 1916 – 11 February 1968) was an Indian politician, proponent of integral humanism ideology and leader of the political party Bharatiya Jana Sangh (BJS), the forerunner of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ...
in 1965, who described it as advocating an "indigenous economic model that puts the human being at center stage." It is committed to
Hindutva
Hindutva () is the predominant form of Hindu nationalism in India. The term was formulated as a political ideology by Vinayak Damodar Savarkar in 1923. It is used by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP), the ...
, an ideology articulated by
Indian independence activist
Vinayak Damodar Savarkar
Vinayak Damodar Savarkar (), Marathi pronunciation: inaːjək saːʋəɾkəɾ also commonly known as Veer Savarkar (28 May 1883 – 26 February 1966), was an Indian politician, activist, and writer.
Savarkar developed the Hindu nationalis ...
. According to the party, Hindutva is cultural nationalism favouring Indian culture over
westernisation
Westernization (or Westernisation), also Europeanisation or occidentalization (from the ''Occident''), is a process whereby societies come under or adopt Western culture in areas such as industry, technology, science, education, politics, economi ...
, thus it extends to all Indians regardless of religion. However, scholars and political analysts have called their Hindutva ideology an attempt to redefine India and recast it as a Hindu country to the exclusion of other religions, making it a Hindu nationalist party in a general sense. The BJP has slightly moderated its stance after the NDA was formed in 1998, due to the presence of parties with a broader set of ideologies.
The BJP's Hindutva ideology has been reflected in many of its government policies. It supports the construction of the
Ram Temple at the
disputed site of the
Babri Mosque
Babri Masjid (IAST: Bābarī Masjid; meaning ''Mosque of Babur'') was a mosque in Ayodhya, India, at a site believed by many Hindus to be the birthplace of Hindu deity Rama. It has been a Ayodhya dispute, focus of dispute between the Hindu an ...
. This issue was its major poll plank in the 1991 general elections. However, the
demolition of the mosque during a BJP rally in 1992 resulted in a backlash against it, leading to a decline of the temple's prominence in its agenda. The education policy of the NDA government reorganised the
National Council of Educational Research and Training
The National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) is an autonomous organisation of the Government of India which was established in 1961 as a literary, scientific and charitable Society under the Societies Registration Act. Its head ...
(NCERT) and tasked it with extensively revising the textbooks used in Indian schools. Various scholars have stated that this revision, especially in the case of history textbooks, was a covert attempt to "
saffronise" Indian history. The NDA government introduced
Vedic astrology
Jyotisha or Jyotishya (from Sanskrit ', from ' “light, heavenly body" and ''ish'' - from Isvara or God) is the traditional Hindu system of astrology, also known as Hindu astrology, Indian astrology and more recently Vedic astrology. It is one ...
as a subject in college curricula, despite opposition from several leading scientists.
Taking a position against what it calls the "
pseudo-secularism
In the Indian context, the term pseudo-secularism is used to pejoratively describe policies considered to involve minoritarianism, minority appeasement. The Hindus form the majority religious community in India; the term "pseudo-secular" implies ...
" of the Congress party, the BJP instead supports "positive secularism". Vajpayee laid out the BJP's interpretation of
Mahatma Gandhi
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (; ; 2 October 1869 – 30 January 1948), popularly known as Mahatma Gandhi, was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalist Quote: "... marks Gandhi as a hybrid cosmopolitan figure who transformed ... anti- ...
's doctrine of ''
Sarva Dharma Sama Bhava
''Sarva Dharma Sama Bhava'' is a concept embodying the equality of the destination of the paths followed by all religions (although the paths themselves may be different). The concept was embraced by Punyashlok Ahilyadevi Holkar (she built ''masjid ...
'' and contrasted it with what he called European secularism. He had said that
Indian secularism attempted to see all religions with equal respect, while European secularism was independent of religion, thus making the former more "positive". The BJP supports a
uniform civil code
The Uniform Civil Code (Hindi: समान नागरिक संहिता, IAST: Samāna Nāgarika Saṃhitā) is a proposal in India to formulate and implement personal laws of citizens which apply on all citizens equally regardless ...
, which would apply a common set of personal laws to every citizen regardless of their personal religion, replacing the existing laws which vary by religious community. Historian Yogendra Malik claims this ignores the differential procedures required to protect the cultural identity of the Muslim minority. The BJP favoured, and later enacted the abrogation of
Article 370 of the Constitution of India
Article 370 of the Indian constitution
gave special status to Jammu and Kashmir, a region located in the northern part of Indian subcontinent and part of the larger region of Kashmir which has been the subject of a dispute between India, Pak ...
, which granted a greater degree of autonomy to Jammu and Kashmir in recognition of the unusual circumstances surrounding its
accession to the Indian Union.
The BJP opposes
illegal immigration into India from
Bangladesh
Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...
. The party states that this migration, mostly in the states of Assam and West Bengal, threatens the security, economy and stability of the country. Academics have pointed out that the BJP refers to Hindu migrants from Bangladesh as refugees, and reserves the term "illegal" for Muslim migrants. Academic Michael Gillan perceived it as an attempt to use an emotive issue to mobilise Hindu sentiment in a region where the party has not been historically successful. The party later became the party of government in Assam.
In 2013, the
Supreme Court of India
The Supreme Court of India ( IAST: ) is the supreme judicial authority of India and is the highest court of the Republic of India under the constitution. It is the most senior constitutional court, has the final decision in all legal matters ...
reinstated the controversial
Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code
Section 377 of the British colonial penal code criminalized all sexual acts "against the order of nature". The law was used to prosecute people engaging in oral and anal sex along with homosexual activity. The penal code remains in many former col ...
, which, among other things, criminalises homosexuality. There was a popular outcry, although clerics, including Muslim religious leaders, stated that they supported the verdict. BJP president
Rajnath Singh
Rajnath Singh (; born 10 July 1951) is an Indian politician serving as the Defence Minister of India. He is currently the Deputy Leader of the House Lok Sabha. He is the former President of Bharatiya Janata Party. He has previously served as t ...
said that the party supported Section 377, because it believed that homosexuality was unnatural, though the party softened the stance after its victory in the 2014 general elections. Senior party members including
Arun Jaitley
Arun Jaitley (28 December 1952 – 24 August 2019) was an Indian politician and attorney. A member of the Bharatiya Janata Party, Jaitley served as the Minister of Finance and Corporate Affairs of the Government of India from 2014 to 2019. Jait ...
and
Harsh Vardhan openly support the rights of gender and sexual minorities in India.
Vanathi Srinivasan
Vanathi Srinivasan (Help:IPA/Tamil, /ʋaːnati/) is an Indian politician and a lawyer. As a lawyer, she has practiced in Madras High Court since 1993. She is a member of the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly from Coimbatore South constituency. ...
, a BJP leader from Tamil Nadu, launched the first book on
LGBTQIA
' is an Acronym, initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an Hyponymy and hypernymy, umbrella term for Sexuality and gende ...
and
Genderqueer
Non-binary and genderqueer are umbrella terms for gender identities that are not solely male or femaleidentities that are outside the gender binary. Non-binary identities fall under the transgender umbrella, since non-binary people typically ...
in Tamil penned by
Gopi Shankar Madurai
Gopi Shankar Madurai, born 13 April 1991, is an Indian equal rights and Indigenous rights activist. Shankar was one of the youngest, and the first openly intersex and genderqueer statutory authority and one of the candidates to contest in 201 ...
. However, other leading party figures, such as
Subramanian Swamy
Subramanian Swamy (born 15 September 1939) is an Indian politician, economist and statistician. Before joining politics, he was a professor of Mathematical Economics at the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi. He is known for his Hindu na ...
, were strongly critical of the decision by the Supreme Court to strike down Section 377 in ''
Navtej Singh Johar v. Union of India
Navtej Singh Johar v. Union of India Secretary Ministry of Law and Justice (2018) is a landmark decision of the Supreme Court of India that decriminalised all consensual sex among adults, including homosexual sex.
The court was asked to dete ...
''.
Economic policies
The BJP's economic policy has changed considerably since its founding. There is a significant range of economic ideologies within the party. In the 1980s, like the
Jana Sangh
The Bharatiya Jana Sangh ( BJS or JS, short name: Jan Sangh, full name: Akhil Bharatiya Jana Sangh; ) ( ISO 15919: '' Akhila Bhāratīya Jana Saṅgha '' ) was an Indian right wing political party that existed from 1951 to 1977 and was the po ...
, it reflected the thinking of the RSS and its affiliates. It supported ''
swadeshi
The Swadeshi movement was a self-sufficiency movement that was part of the Indian independence movement and contributed to the development of Indian nationalism. Before the BML Government's decision for the partition of Bengal was made public in ...
'' (the promotion of indigenous industries and products) and a
protectionist
Protectionism, sometimes referred to as trade protectionism, is the economic policy of restricting imports from other countries through methods such as tariffs on imported goods, import quotas, and a variety of other government regulations. ...
export policy. However, it supported internal
economic liberalisation
Economic liberalization (or economic liberalisation) is the lessening of government regulations and restrictions in an economy in exchange for greater participation by private entities. In politics, the doctrine is associated with classical liber ...
, and opposed the state-driven industrialisation favoured by the Congress.
During the 1996 elections, the BJP shifted its stance away from protectionism and towards
globalisation
Globalization, or globalisation (Commonwealth English; see spelling differences), is the process of interaction and integration among people, companies, and governments worldwide. The term ''globalization'' first appeared in the early 20t ...
; its election manifesto recommended increasing foreign investment in priority sectors, while restricting it in others. When the party was in power in 1998, it shifted its policy even further in favour of globalisation. The tenure of the NDA saw an unprecedented influx of foreign companies in India. This was criticised by the left parties and the BJP's affiliates (the RSS and the Swadeshi Jagran Manch). The communist parties said that the BJP was attempting to appease the
World Bank
The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and grants to the governments of low- and middle-income countries for the purpose of pursuing capital projects. The World Bank is the collective name for the Interna ...
and the United States government through its
neoliberal
Neoliberalism (also neo-liberalism) is a term used to signify the late 20th century political reappearance of 19th-century ideas associated with free-market capitalism after it fell into decline following the Second World War. A prominent fa ...
policies. Similarly, the RSS stated that the BJP was not being true to its ''swadeshi'' ideology.
The two NDA governments in the period 1998–2004 introduced significant deregulation and privatisation of government-owned enterprises. It also introduced tariff-reducing measures. These reforms built off of the initial economic liberalisation introduced by the P. V. Narasimha Rao-led Congress government in the early 1990s. India's GDP growth increased substantially during the tenure of the NDA. The 2004 campaign slogan
India Shining
1. India Shining (Hindi: भारत उदय ) was a marketing slogan referring to the overall feeling of economic optimism in India in ''2004.''
2. The slogan was popularised by the then-ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for the 2004 Indi ...
was based on the party's belief that the free market would bring prosperity to all sectors of society. After its unexpected defeat, commentators said that it was punished for neglecting the needs of the poor and focusing too much on its corporate allies.
This shift in the economic policies of the BJP was also visible in state governments, especially in Gujarat, where the BJP held power for 16 years. Modi's government, in power from 2002 to 2014, followed a strongly neo-liberal agenda, presented as a drive towards development. Its policies have included extensive privatisation of infrastructure and services, as well as a significant rollback of labour and environmental regulations. While this was praised by the business community, commentators criticised it as catering to the BJP's upper-class constituency instead of the poor.
Modi has been described as taking a more economically
populist
Populism refers to a range of political stances that emphasize the idea of "the people" and often juxtapose this group against " the elite". It is frequently associated with anti-establishment and anti-political sentiment. The term developed ...
approach on healthcare and agricultural policy. Modi's government has also been described as taking a more
protectionist
Protectionism, sometimes referred to as trade protectionism, is the economic policy of restricting imports from other countries through methods such as tariffs on imported goods, import quotas, and a variety of other government regulations. ...
turn on international trade during his second term, withdrawing from the
Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership
The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP ) is a free trade agreement among the Asia-Pacific nations of Australia, Brunei, Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, New Zealand, the Philippines, Sin ...
talks and introducing the 2020
Atmanirbhar Bharat
Atmanirbhar Bharat (Devanagari: ) which translates to 'self-reliant India', is a phrase the Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi and his government used and popularised in relation to the country's economic development plans. The phrase is an ...
economic plan, which emphasises national self-sufficiency. However, Foreign Minister
Subrahmanyam Jaishankar
Subrahmanyam Jaishankar (born 9 January 1955) is an Indian diplomat and politician serving as the Minister of External Affairs of the Government of India since 30 May 2019. He is a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party and a Member of Parliamen ...
has rejected accusations that Atmanirbhar Bharat is a protectionist initiative, while himself criticizing India's past free trade agreements for the "damaging impact they have had on India's manufacturing". Similarly, Vice President
Venkaiah Naidu
Muppavarapu Venkaiah Naidu (born 1 July 1949) is an Indian politician who served as the 13th vice president of India from 2017 to 2022. He is the first Indian vice president born in independent India. He has also served as the minister of Housi ...
has also disputed the initiative's protectionism, instead stating that it meant "adopting a pragmatic development strategy that would enable the country to recognise and capitalise on its inherent strengths".
Defence and counterterrorism
Compared to Congress, the BJP takes a more aggressive and nationalistic position on defence policy and terrorism. The Vajpayee-led NDA government carried out nuclear weapons tests and enacted the
Prevention of Terrorism Act, which later came under heavy criticism. It also deployed troops to evict infiltrators from Kargil, and supported the United States
War on Terror
The war on terror, officially the Global War on Terrorism (GWOT), is an ongoing international Counterterrorism, counterterrorism military campaign initiated by the United States following the September 11 attacks. The main targets of the campa ...
.
Although previous Congress governments developed the capability for a nuclear weapons test, the Vajpayee government broke with India's historical strategy of avoiding it and authorised
Pokhran-II
The Pokhran-II tests were a series of five nuclear bomb test explosions conducted by India at the Indian Army's Pokhran Test Range in May 1998. It was the second instance of nuclear testing conducted by India; the first test, code-named ''Smil ...
, a series of five nuclear tests in 1998. The tests came soon after Pakistan tested a medium-range ballistic missile. They were seen as an attempt to display India's military prowess to the world, and a reflection of anti-Pakistan sentiment within the BJP.
The Vajpayee government ordered the Indian armed forces to expel the Pakistani soldiers occupying
Kashmir
Kashmir () is the northernmost geographical region of the Indian subcontinent. Until the mid-19th century, the term "Kashmir" denoted only the Kashmir Valley between the Great Himalayas and the Pir Panjal Range. Today, the term encompas ...
territory, later known as the
Kargil War
The Kargil War, also known as the Kargil conflict, was fought between India and Pakistan from May to July 1999 in the Kargil district of Jammu and Kashmir and elsewhere along the Line of Control (LoC). In India, the conflict is also referr ...
. Although the government was later criticised for the intelligence failures that did not detect Pakistani presence, it was successful in ousting them from the previously Indian-controlled territory.
After the
terrorist attack on the Indian Parliament in December 2001, the NDA government passed the
Prevention of Terrorism Act. The aim of the act was to improve the government's ability to deal with terrorism. It initially failed to pass in the
Rajya Sabha
The Rajya Sabha, constitutionally the Council of States, is the upper house of the bicameral Parliament of India. , it has a maximum membership of 245, of which 233 are elected by the legislatures of the states and union territories using si ...
; therefore, the NDA took the extraordinary step of convening a
joint session
A joint session or joint convention is, most broadly, when two normally separate decision-making groups meet, often in a special session or other extraordinary meeting, for a specific purpose.
Most often it refers to when both houses of a bicame ...
of the Parliament, where the numerical superior
Lok Sabha
The Lok Sabha, constitutionally the House of the People, is the lower house of India's bicameral Parliament, with the upper house being the Rajya Sabha. Members of the Lok Sabha are elected by an adult universal suffrage and a first-past ...
allowed the bill to pass. The act was subsequently used to prosecute hundreds of people accused of terrorism. However, it was criticised by opposition parties and scholars for being an infringement upon
civil liberties
Civil liberties are guarantees and freedoms that governments commit not to abridge, either by constitution, legislation, or judicial interpretation, without due process. Though the scope of the term differs between countries, civil liberties may ...
, and the
National Human Rights Commission of India
The National Human Rights Commission of India (abbreviated as NHRC) is a statutory public body constituted on 12 October 1993 under the Protection of Human Rights Ordinance of 28 September 1993. It was given a statutory basis by the Protection ...
stated that it had been used to target Muslims. It was later repealed by the Congress-led UPA government in 2004.
The Modi government has conducted several strikes on territory controlled by neighbouring countries on counterterrorism grounds. This included a
2015 Indian counter-insurgency operation in Myanmar
On 9 June 2015, India announced that it had conducted a cross-border strike code name Operation Hot Pursuit against insurgents belonging to National Socialist Council of Nagaland, NSCN-K. According to India, the operation took place in Myanmar an ...
against the
National Socialist Council of Nagaland
The National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN) is a Naga nationalist separatist group operating mainly in Northeast India, with minor activities in northwest Myanmar (Burma). The main aim of the organisation is to establish a sovereign Naga ...
, the
2016 Indian Line of Control strike
On 29 September 2016, India announced that it conducted surgical strikes against militant launch pads across the Line of Control in Pakistani-administered Kashmir, and inflicted "significant casualties". Pakistan rejected India's claim, and ...
in Pakistan-administered Kashmir, and the
2019 Balakot airstrike
The 2019 Balakot airstrike was a bombing raid conducted by Indian warplanes on February 26, 2019, in Balakot, Pakistan against an alleged terrorist training camp. Open source satellites imagery has revealed that no targets of consequence wer ...
in Pakistan. It also militarily intervened in defence of
Bhutan
Bhutan (; dz, འབྲུག་ཡུལ་, Druk Yul ), officially the Kingdom of Bhutan,), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is situated in the Eastern Himalayas, between China in the north and India in the south. A mountainous ...
during the
2017 Doklam standoff with China.
The Modi government considers national security to be one of their key focuses and has implemented many long-standing defence reforms. In August 2019, the Modi government established the post of the
Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) to ensure better coordination between all three services, a reform that was widely requested after the 1999 Kargil War. The
Department of Military Affairs
Department of Military Affairs (DMA) is the department in charge of military matters within the Indian Ministry of Defence. Headed by the Chief of Defence Staff, as its ''ex-officio'' secretary, the DMA provides integration between the armed fo ...
was also established and put under the CDS. Retired
Admiral
Admiral is one of the highest ranks in some navies. In the Commonwealth nations and the United States, a "full" admiral is equivalent to a "full" general in the army or the air force, and is above vice admiral and below admiral of the fleet, ...
Arun Prakash
Admiral Arun Prakash, PVSM, AVSM, VrC, VSM (born October 1944) is a former Flag Officer of the Indian Navy. He served as the Chief of the Naval Staff from 31 July 2004 to 31 October 2006 and as the Chairman of the Chiefs of Staff Committee fr ...
called it “the most significant development in the national security domain since Independence.” Modi has also pushed for the indigenization and privatization of the defence production sector, as well as promoting the export of Indian-made arms to smaller countries.
Foreign policy
The historical stance of the BJP towards
foreign policy
A State (polity), state's foreign policy or external policy (as opposed to internal or domestic policy) is its objectives and activities in relation to its interactions with other states, unions, and other political entities, whether bilaterall ...
, like the Bharatiya Jana Sangh, was based on an aggressive
Hindu nationalism
Hindu nationalism has been collectively referred to as the expression of social and political thought, based on the native spiritual and cultural traditions of the Indian subcontinent. "Hindu nationalism" or the correct term ''Hindū rāṣṭ ...
combined with economic protectionism. The Bharatiya Jana Sangh was founded with the explicit aim of reversing the
partition of India
The Partition of British India in 1947 was the Partition (politics), change of political borders and the division of other assets that accompanied the dissolution of the British Raj in South Asia and the creation of two independent dominions: ...
; as a result, its official position was that the existence of Pakistan was illegitimate. This antagonism toward Pakistan remains a significant influence on the BJP's ideology. During the Cold War, the party and its affiliates strongly opposed India's long standing policy of
non-alignment, and instead advocated closeness to the United States. In the post-Cold War era, the party has largely embraced the Indian foreign policy consensus of improving relations with the United States, while stressing a desire for a more
multipolar world order.
The Vajpayee government's foreign policy in many ways represented a radical shift from BJP orthodoxy while maintaining some aspects of it. Its policy also represented a significant change from the
Nehruvian idealism of previous governments, opting instead for realism. His party criticised him for adopting a much more moderate stance with Pakistan. In 1998, he made a landmark visit to Pakistan, and inaugurated the
Delhi–Lahore Bus
The Delhi–Lahore Bus, officially known as Sada-e-Sarhad (Translation: ''Call of the Frontier, hi, सदा ए सरहद; ur, )'', is a passenger bus service connecting the Indian capital of New Delhi, Delhi with the city of Lahore, Pak ...
service. Vajpayee signed the
Lahore Declaration
The Lahore Declaration was a bilateral agreement and governance treaty between India and Pakistan. The treaty was signed on 21 February 1999, at the conclusion of a historic summit in Lahore, and ratified by the parliaments of both countries t ...
, which was an attempt to improve Indo-Pakistani relations that deteriorated after the 1998 nuclear tests. However, the presence of Pakistani soldiers and militants in the disputed Kashmir territory was discovered a few months later, causing the
1999 Kargil War. The war ended a couple of months later, with the expulsion of the infiltrators two months later, without any shift in the
Line of Control
The Line of Control (LoC) is a military control line between the Indian and Pakistanicontrolled parts of the former princely state of Jammu and Kashmir—a line which does not constitute a legally recognized international boundary, but serve ...
that marked the ''de facto'' border between the two countries. Despite the war, Vajpayee continued to display a willingness to engage Pakistan in dialogue. This was not well received among the BJP cadre, who criticised the government for being "weak". This faction of the BJP asserted itself at the post-Kargil
Agra summit, preventing any significant deal from being reached.
The Vajpayee administration also offered political support to the U.S. War on Terror, in the hope of better addressing India's issues with terrorism and insurgency in Kashmir. This led to closer defence ties with the US, including negotiations for the sale of weapons. However, the BJP strongly condemned the
2003 invasion of Iraq
The 2003 invasion of Iraq was a United States-led invasion of the Republic of Iraq and the first stage of the Iraq War. The invasion phase began on 19 March 2003 (air) and 20 March 2003 (ground) and lasted just over one month, including 26 ...
, stating that it "deplores the unjustified military action resorted to by the United States, Britain and their allies against Iraq". The BJP also opposed the
2011 military intervention in Libya
On 19 March 2011, a multi-state NATO-led coalition began a military intervention in Libya, to implement United Nations Security Council Resolution 1973, in response to events during the First Libyan Civil War. With ten votes in favour and five ...
and urged the
Lok Sabha
The Lok Sabha, constitutionally the House of the People, is the lower house of India's bicameral Parliament, with the upper house being the Rajya Sabha. Members of the Lok Sabha are elected by an adult universal suffrage and a first-past ...
to pass a unanimous resolution condemning it.
The Modi government initially took a pragmatic stance towards Pakistan, attempting to improve relations with
Nawaz Sharif
Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif (Urdu, Punjabi language, Punjabi: ; born 25 December 1949) is a Pakistani businessman and politician who has served as the Prime Minister of Pakistan for three non-consecutive terms. He is the longest-serving prime ...
's government, culminating in Modi visiting Pakistan in 2015. Relations subsequently deteriorated, particularly after Sharif was ousted in 2017. The Modi government has since been described as taking a "hardline" approach on Pakistan, and the BJP has accused the opposition Congress of collaborating with Pakistan through its criticism of government policy.
In 2015, the Modi government was accused by the Nepalese government of imposing an undeclared
blockade on Nepal.
In 2022, opposition figures
Priyanka Chaturvedi
Priyanka Vickram Chaturvedi (born 19 November 1979) is an Indian politician serving as Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha from Maharashtra and Deputy Leader of Shiv Sena. Prior to this, she was a member and one of the National Spokespersons of I ...
and
Shashi Tharoor
Shashi Tharoor (; ; born 9 March 1956 in London, England ) is an Indian former international civil servant, diplomat, bureaucrat and politician, writer and public intellectual who has been serving as Member of Parliament for Thiruvananthapuram, ...
criticised the Modi government's abstention on
United Nations Security Council Resolution 2623
United Nations Security Council Resolution 2623 called for the eleventh emergency special session of the United Nations General Assembly on the subject of the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. Albania and the United States introduced the resolutio ...
, which condemned the
2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine
On 24 February 2022, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, which began in 2014. The invasion has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths on both sides. It has caused Europe's largest refugee crisis since World War II. An ...
. However, the leadership of the Indian National Congress backed the government's stance.
Organisation and structure
The organisation of the BJP is strictly hierarchical, with the
president
President most commonly refers to:
*President (corporate title)
*President (education), a leader of a college or university
*President (government title)
President may also refer to:
Automobiles
* Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...
being the highest authority in the party. Until 2012, the BJP constitution mandated that any qualified member could be national or state president for a single three-year term. This was amended to a maximum of two consecutive terms.
Below the president is the
National Executive, which contains a variable number of senior leaders from across the country. It is the higher decision-making body of the party. Its members are several vice-presidents, general-secretaries, treasurers and secretaries, who work directly with the president. An identical structure, with an executive committee led by a president, exists at the state, regional, district and local level.
In April 2015, the BJP stated that it had more than 100 million registered members, which would make it the world's largest political party by primary membership. As of September 2022, the party does not have a single Muslim representative in the parliament and state assemblies.
The BJP is a cadre-based party. It has close connections with other organisations with similar ideologies, such as the RSS, ABVP, BYSS and the VHP. The cadres of these groups often supplement the BJP's. Its lower members are largely derived from the RSS and its affiliates, loosely known as the
Sangh Parivar
The Sangh Parivar (translation: "Family of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh" or the "RSS family") refers, as an umbrella term, to the collection of Hindu nationalist organisations spawned by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), which rema ...
:
* The
Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad
Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) () is a right-wing all India student organisation affiliated to the Hindu nationalist organization Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).
History
The ABVP, founded in 1948 with the initiative of the RSS ...
(''All India Students' Union''), the students' wing of the RSS.
* The
Bharatiya Kisan Sangh
The Bharatiya Kisan Sangh (BKS) ( en, Indian Farmers' Union, italics=yes) is an Indian farmers' organization that is politically linked to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, and a member of the Sangh Parivar. BKS was founded by Dattopant Thengadi ...
(''Indian Farmer's Union''), the farmers' division.
* The
Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh
The Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (translation: ''Indian Workers' Union'') is a trade union in India. It was founded by Dattopant Thengadi on 23 July 1955.
The BMS itself claims to have more than 10 million members. According to provisional statisti ...
(''Indian Labourers Union''), the labour union associated with the RSS.
* The Bharatiya Yuva Seva Sangh (''Youth Awakening Front''), the Youth Awakening Front associated with the RSS.
The party has subsidiary organisations of its own, such as:
* The BJP Mahila Morcha (''BJP Women's Front''), its women's division.
* The
Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha
The Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM) (translation: Indian People's Youth Front) is the youth wing of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), one of the two major political parties in India. It was founded in 1978, and its first national president w ...
(''Indian People's Youth Front''), its youth wing.
* The BJP Minority Morcha (''BJP Minority Front''), its minority division.
General election results
The Bharatiya Janata Party was officially founded in 1980, and the first general election it contested was in 1984, in which it won only two
Lok Sabha
The Lok Sabha, constitutionally the House of the People, is the lower house of India's bicameral Parliament, with the upper house being the Rajya Sabha. Members of the Lok Sabha are elected by an adult universal suffrage and a first-past ...
seats. Following the election in 1996, the BJP became the largest party in the Lok Sabha for the first time, but the government it formed was short-lived. In the elections of 1998 and 1999, it remained the largest party, and headed the ruling coalition on both occasions. In the 2014 general election, it won an outright majority in parliament. From 1991 onwards, a BJP member has led the
Opposition
Opposition may refer to:
Arts and media
* ''Opposition'' (Altars EP), 2011 EP by Christian metalcore band Altars
* The Opposition (band), a London post-punk band
* ''The Opposition with Jordan Klepper'', a late-night television series on Comed ...
whenever the party was not in power.
Lok Sabha seats
, 11 states have
Chief Ministers from the BJP, and governments led by that party, sometimes including allied parties. The 11 states are
Arunachal Pradesh
Arunachal Pradesh (, ) is a state in Northeastern India. It was formed from the erstwhile North-East Frontier Agency (NEFA) region, and became a state on 20 February 1987. It borders the states of Assam and Nagaland to the south. It shares int ...
,
Assam
Assam (; ) is a state in northeastern India, south of the eastern Himalayas along the Brahmaputra and Barak River valleys. Assam covers an area of . The state is bordered by Bhutan and Arunachal Pradesh to the north; Nagaland and Manipur ...
(with
Asom Gana Parishad
Asom Gana Parishad (translation: ''Assam People's Council'', AGP) is a state political party in Assam, India. The AGP was formed after the historic Assam Accord of 1985 and formally launched at the Golaghat Convention held from 13–14 Octobe ...
and
United People's Party Liberal
The United People's Party Liberal ( UPPL) is a political party founded in Assam. The party has its headquarters in Kokrajhar Town. The party was actively participated in 2020 Bodoland Territorial Council Election under the presidency of Pramod ...
),
Goa
Goa () is a state on the southwestern coast of India within the Konkan region, geographically separated from the Deccan highlands by the Western Ghats. It is located between the Indian states of Maharashtra to the north and Karnataka to the ...
,
Gujarat
Gujarat (, ) is a state along the western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the fifth-largest Indian state by area, covering some ; and the ninth ...
,
Haryana
Haryana (; ) is an Indian state located in the northern part of the country. It was carved out of the former state of East Punjab on 1 Nov 1966 on a linguistic basis. It is ranked 21st in terms of area, with less than 1.4% () of India's land ar ...
(with
Jannayak Janta Party
The Jannayak Janta Party, abbreviated as, JJP is an Indian state-level political party in Haryana, India. JJP is a recognized state political party. JJP was founded on 9 December 2018 by Dushyant Chautala with the ideology of Devi Lal, who serv ...
),
Karnataka
Karnataka (; ISO: , , also known as Karunāḍu) is a state in the southwestern region of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act. Originally known as Mysore State , it was renamed ''Karnat ...
,
Madhya Pradesh
Madhya Pradesh (, ; meaning 'central province') is a state in central India. Its capital is Bhopal, and the largest city is Indore, with Jabalpur, Ujjain, Gwalior, Sagar, and Rewa being the other major cities. Madhya Pradesh is the seco ...
,
Manipur
Manipur () ( mni, Kangleipak) is a state in Northeast India, with the city of Imphal as its capital. It is bounded by the Indian states of Nagaland to the north, Mizoram to the south and Assam to the west. It also borders two regions of Myanm ...
(with
Naga People's Front
The Naga People's Front (NPF) is a regional political party in Nagaland, Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh . It headed the Nagaland government with the Bharatiya Janata Party, as part of the Democratic Alliance of Nagaland from 2003 to 2018. NPF ...
,
National People's Party and
Lok Janshakti Party
The Lok Janshakti Party ( LJP, "People’s Manpower Party") was a state political party mainly based in the state of Bihar, India. The party was formed in 2000 when Ram Vilas Paswan split from Janata Dal. The party had a considerable followin ...
),
Tripura
Tripura (, Bengali: ) is a state in Northeast India. The third-smallest state in the country, it covers ; and the seventh-least populous state with a population of 36.71 lakh ( 3.67 million). It is bordered by Assam and Mizoram to the east a ...
(with
Indigenous People's Front of Tripura
The Indigenous Peoples Front of Tripura (IPFT) is a regional political party in Tripura, India. It is a member of the National Democratic Alliance and North-East Democratic Alliance. The party was merged into the Indigenous Nationalist Party o ...
),
Uttar Pradesh
Uttar Pradesh (; , 'Northern Province') is a state in northern India. With over 200 million inhabitants, it is the most populated state in India as well as the most populous country subdivision in the world. It was established in 1950 ...
(with
Apna Dal (Sonelal)
Apna Dal (Sonelal) is an Indian political party active in the Uttar Pradesh. The party finds its support base mainly in the Kurmi community in the region of Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh.
History
The Apna Dal (Sonelal) is a breakaway party of Apna ...
) and
Uttarakhand
Uttarakhand ( , or ; , ), also known as Uttaranchal ( ; the official name until 2007), is a state in the northern part of India. It is often referred to as the "Devbhumi" (literally 'Land of the Gods') due to its religious significance and ...
.
In 4 other states and in the
Union Territory of Puducherry
Puducherry (), also known as Pondicherry () or Pondichéry, is a union territory of India, consisting of four small geographically unconnected districts. It was formed out of four territories of former French India, namely Pondichéry (Pondi ...
, it participates in the government as the junior partner in the ruling alliance with other members of the
National Democratic Alliance
National Democratic Alliance (NDA) () is a Centre-right politics, centre-right to Right-wing politics, right-wing and Conservatism, conservative Indian big tent political alliance led by the right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). It was foun ...
. The states are:
Maharashtra
Maharashtra (; , abbr. MH or Maha) is a states and union territories of India, state in the western India, western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. Maharashtra is the List of states and union te ...
(with
Balasahebanchi Shiv Sena
The Balasahebanchi Shiv Sena () is a Hindu nationalist political party in India formed in 2022 under the leadership of Eknath Shinde. It was allotted a new symbol by the Election Commission, separate from the main Shiv Sena. It is now one o ...
, other small parties and independents),
Meghalaya
Meghalaya (, or , meaning "abode of clouds"; from Sanskrit , "cloud" + , "abode") is a states and union territories of India, state in northeastern India. Meghalaya was formed on 21 January 1972 by carving out two districts from the state of As ...
(with the
National People's Party,
United Democratic Party,
People's Democratic Front and
Hill State People's Democratic Party
The Hill State People's Democratic Party (HSPDP) is a regional political party active in the state of Meghalaya, northeast India. Formed in 1968 as a split from the All Party Hill Leaders Conference by Hopingstone Lyngdoh, the HSPDP has had rep ...
),
Nagaland
Nagaland () is a landlocked state in the northeastern region of India. It is bordered by the Indian states of Arunachal Pradesh to the north, Assam to the west, Manipur to the south and the Sagaing Region of Myanmar to the east. Its capital cit ...
(with the
Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party
The Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party (NDPP) is a regional political party in the Indian state of Nagaland. Chingwang Konyak is the president of NDPP. The symbol of the party is a globe.
The NDPP was formed by Naga People's Front rebels ...
), and
Puducherry Puducherry or Pondicherry may refer to:
* Puducherry (union territory), a union territory of India
** Pondicherry, capital of the union territory of Puducherry
** Puducherry district, a district of the union territory of Puducherry
** Puducherry tal ...
(with the
All India N.R. Congress
All India N.R. Congress (abbr. AINRC) is a regional political party formed by the Chief Minister of Puducherry, N. Rangaswamy in the Indian union territory of Puducherry. He announced the party formation on 7 February 2011 in the party's h ...
). The BJP's ally, the
Sikkim Krantikari Morcha
Sikkim Krantikari Morcha (translation: ''Sikkim Revolutionary Front'') is a political party in the Indian state of Sikkim which was the ruling party of Sikkim in 2020.
P.S. Golay, a former member of the Sikkim Legislative Assembly, was one of ...
, holds power in
Sikkim
Sikkim (; ) is a state in Northeastern India. It borders the Tibet Autonomous Region of China in the north and northeast, Bhutan in the east, Province No. 1 of Nepal in the west and West Bengal in the south. Sikkim is also close to the Siligur ...
, but the BJP has no ministers in the government.
The BJP has previously held power in
Chhattisgarh
Chhattisgarh (, ) is a landlocked state in Central India. It is the ninth largest state by area, and with a population of roughly 30 million, the seventeenth most populous. It borders seven states – Uttar Pradesh to the north, Madhya Prade ...
,
Delhi
Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders w ...
,
Rajasthan
Rajasthan (; lit. 'Land of Kings') is a state in northern India. It covers or 10.4 per cent of India's total geographical area. It is the largest Indian state by area and the seventh largest by population. It is on India's northwestern si ...
and
Jharkhand
Jharkhand (; ; ) is a state in eastern India. The state shares its border with the states of West Bengal to the east, Chhattisgarh to the west, Uttar Pradesh to the northwest, Bihar to the north and Odisha to the south. It has an area of . It ...
, and has been the junior coalition partner in governments in
Andhra Pradesh
Andhra Pradesh (, abbr. AP) is a state in the south-eastern coastal region of India. It is the seventh-largest state by area covering an area of and tenth-most populous state with 49,386,799 inhabitants. It is bordered by Telangana to the ...
(with the
Telugu Desam Party
The Telugu Desam Party (; TDP) is an Indian regional political party operating in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana at the state and central level. Since its founding by N. T. Rama Rao (often referred to as NTR) on 29 March 1982, the party has foc ...
),
Jammu and Kashmir Jammu and Kashmir may refer to:
* Kashmir, the northernmost geographical region of the Indian subcontinent
* Jammu and Kashmir (union territory), a region administered by India as a union territory
* Jammu and Kashmir (state), a region administered ...
(with the
Jammu and Kashmir Peoples Democratic Party
Jammu is the winter capital of the Indian union territory of Jammu and Kashmir. It is the headquarters and the largest city in Jammu district of the union territory. Lying on the banks of the river Tawi, the city of Jammu, with an area of , ...
),
Odisha
Odisha (English: , ), formerly Orissa ( the official name until 2011), is an Indian state located in Eastern India. It is the 8th largest state by area, and the 11th largest by population. The state has the third largest population of ...
(with the
Biju Janata Dal
The Biju Janata Dal (; BJD) is a regional political party in the Indian state of Odisha founded and led by Naveen Patnaik, the current Chief Minister of Odisha and the son of former Chief Minister of Odisha Biju Patnaik, after whom the party i ...
),
Punjab
Punjab (; Punjabi: پنجاب ; ਪੰਜਾਬ ; ; also romanised as ''Panjāb'' or ''Panj-Āb'') is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising ...
(with the
Shiromani Akali Dal
The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) (translation: ''Supreme Akali Party'') is a centre-right sikh-centric state political party in Punjab, India. The party is the second-oldest in India, after Congress, being founded in 1920. Although there are many ...
), and
Tamil Nadu
Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a States and union territories of India, state in southern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of India ...
(with the
All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam
The All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (; AIADMK) is an Indian regional political party with great influence in the state of Tamil Nadu and the union territory of Puducherry. It is a Dravidian party founded by the former chief mini ...
). It has never held power in
Kerala
Kerala ( ; ) is a state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile regions of Cochin, Malabar, South ...
,
Telangana
Telangana (; , ) is a States and union territories of India, state in India situated on the south-central stretch of the Indian subcontinent, Indian peninsula on the high Deccan Plateau. It is the List of states and union territories of India b ...
, and
West Bengal
West Bengal (, Bengali: ''Poshchim Bongo'', , abbr. WB) is a state in the eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabitants within an area of . West Bengal is the fourt ...
.
In addition to the NDA, the BJP is also a part of a regional political alliance in Northeast India named the
North-East Democratic Alliance
The North-East Democratic Alliance or NEDA is a political coalition that was formed on May 24, 2016, by Bharatiya Janata Party. The motive of the new political front was to protect the interest of the people of the region as well as uniting non-Con ...
.
Current seats in State Legislative Assemblies
Current seats in State Legislative councils
Heads of governments
List of prime ministers
List of chief ministers
, 49 people from Bharatiya Janata Party have held the position of a chief minister,
11 of whom are incumbent.
See also
*
*
List of political parties in India
India has a multi-party system. The Election Commission of India (ECI) accords recognition to the national level and the state level political parties based upon objective criteria. A recognised political party enjoys privileges like a reserve ...
*
List of presidents of the Bharatiya Janata Party
*
Organisation of the Bharatiya Janata Party
The organisation of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is based upon the Constitution of the Bharatiya Janata Party. The organisation of the BJP is strictly hierarchical, with the List of presidents of the Bharatiya Janata Party, president being t ...
*
Politics of India
Politics of India works within the framework of the country's Constitution. India is a parliamentary democratic secular republic in which the president of India is the head of state & first citizen of India and the prime minister of India is t ...
*
List of ruling political parties by country
This is a list of ruling political parties by country, in the form of a table with a link to an overview of political parties in each country and showing which party system is dominant in each country. A political party is a political organizat ...
References
Explanatory notes
Citations
General and cited sources
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
Further reading
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
* Harriss, John. "Hindu Nationalism in Action: The Bharatiya Janata Party and Indian Politics." ''South Asia: Journal of South Asian Studies'' 38.4 (2015): 712-71
online
*
*
*
*
*
*
* Nag, Kingshuk. ''Atal Bihari Vajpayee'' (Rupa Publications, 2016).
* Palshikar, Suhas, Sanjay Kumar, and Sanjay Lodha, eds. ''Electoral Politics in India: The Resurgence of the Bharatiya Janata Party'' (Taylor & Francis, 2017).
* Raghavan, G.N.S. ''New Era in the Indian Polity, A Study of Atal Bihari Vajpayee and the BJP'' (1996).
* Sanjeev Kr, H.M. "Foreign Policy Position of Bharatiya Janata Party Towards Issues of India Pakistan Relations." ''Indian Journal of Political Science'' (2007): 275–291
online*
*
*
External links
*
*
*
*
{{Authority control
1980 establishments in India
Anti-monarchists
Conservative parties in India
Government of India
Hindu nationalism
Hindutva
Identity politics in India
Indian Hindu political parties
Indian nationalist political parties
International Democrat Union member parties
National conservative parties
National political parties in India
Nationalist parties in India
Neoliberal parties
Political parties established in 1980
Right-wing parties in Asia
Right-wing parties
Right-wing populism in India
Right-wing populist parties
Sangh Parivar
Social conservative parties