The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; ; ) is a political party in
India, 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. Since 2014, it has been the
ruling political party in India under
Narendra Modi, the incumbent
Indian prime minister.
The BJP is aligned with
right-wing politics, and its policies have historically reflected a traditional
Hindu nationalist ideology; it has close ideological and organisational links to the
Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). , it is the country's largest political party in terms of representation in the
Parliament of India 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, which was founded in 1951 by Indian politician
Shyama Prasad Mukherjee. After
The Emergency of 1975–1977, the Jana Sangh merged with several other political parties to form the
Janata Party; 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 in
Uttar Pradesh. 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, 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 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. 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 that handed over the land to a trust organization to build the Ram Mandir, a major
Hindu temple.
The
V-Dem Institute described India in a report as experiencing nationwide
democratic backsliding 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, popularly known as the Jana Sangh, founded by
Syama Prasad Mukherjee 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 volunteer organisation, the
Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (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 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. The RSS loaned several of its leading ''
pracharaks'', 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 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 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 and the socialists. It formed governments in various states across the
Hindi heartland, including
Madhya Pradesh,
Bihar and
Uttar Pradesh. 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, the
Congress (O) and the
Bharatiya Lok Dal 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 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 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
Morarji Desai 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 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 seats in the
elections of 1984. The
assassination of Indira Gandhi a few months earlier resulted in a wave of support for the
Congress which won a record tally of 403 seats, contributing to the low number for the BJP.
Ram Janmabhoomi movement
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 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 dedicated to the Hindu deity
Rama at the
disputed site of the
Babri Mosque in
Ayodhya. 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 seats in 1989, a tally which made its support crucial to the
National Front government of
V. P. Singh
Vishwanath Pratap Singh (25 June 1931 – 27 November 2008), shortened to V. P. Singh, was an Indian politician who was the 7th Prime Minister of India from 1989 to 1990 and the 41st Raja Bahadur of Manda. He is India's only prime minister to ...
.
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" that obstructed the legitimate aspirations of Hindus. Advani defended the yatra, stating that it had been free of the incident from
Somnath to
Ayodhya, 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 chief minister
Lalu Prasad Yadav. A large number of ''
kar sevaks'' (religious volunteers) nonetheless converged at Ayodhya. On the orders of
Uttar Pradesh chief minister
Mulayam Singh Yadav, 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 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, 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 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,
Tamil Nadu 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
Shiromani Akali Dal, 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 (AIADMK) and the
Biju Janata Dal. Among these regional parties, the Shiv Sena was the only one that had an ideology similar to the BJP;
Amartya Sen, for example, called the coalition an "ad hoc" grouping. The NDA had a majority with outside support from the
Telugu Desam Party (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. 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 economic policies.
In 2001,
Bangaru Laxman, 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 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 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. 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", 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, 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. 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 Indian 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 people, as well as among
Other Backward Classes. 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 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 as a state and this states consists of the larger part of Kashmir which has been the subject of dispute among India,
Pakistan, 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 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,
Jain,
Parsi, 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,
Bangladesh and
Afghanistan 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.
A report by the
V-Dem Institute described India as experiencing
democratic backsliding 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, an ideology articulated by
Indian independence activist
Vinayak Damodar Savarkar. 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. 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 (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 as a subject in college curricula, despite opposition from several leading scientists.
Taking a position against what it calls the "
pseudo-secularism" of the Congress party, the BJP instead supports "positive secularism". Vajpayee laid out the BJP's interpretation of
Mahatma Gandhi's doctrine of ''
Sarva Dharma Sama Bhava'' 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. 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, 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 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 and
Harsh Vardhan openly support the rights of gender and sexual minorities in India.
Vanathi Srinivasan, a BJP leader from Tamil Nadu, launched the first book on
LGBTQIA 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. However, other leading party figures, such as
Subramanian Swamy, 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 export policy. However, it supported internal
economic liberalisation, 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 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 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 approach on healthcare and agricultural policy. Modi's government has also been described as taking a more
protectionist turn on international trade during his second term, withdrawing from the
Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership talks and introducing the 2020
Atmanirbhar Bharat 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 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.
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, 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. 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; therefore, the NDA took the extraordinary step of convening a
joint session of the Parliament, where the numerical superior
Lok Sabha 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 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
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 during the
2017 Doklam standoff
Seventeen or 17 may refer to:
*17 (number), the natural number following 16 and preceding 18
* one of the years 17 BC, AD 17, 1917, 2017
Literature
Magazines
* ''Seventeen'' (American magazine), an American magazine
* ''Seventeen'' (Japanese m ...
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 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 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 to pass a unanimous resolution condemning it.
The Modi government initially took a pragmatic stance towards Pakistan, attempting to improve relations with
Nawaz Sharif'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 and
Shashi Tharoor 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 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
National may refer to:
Common uses
* Nation or country
** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen
Places in the United States
* National, Maryland, ce ...
, 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
Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (''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 (''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 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 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,
Assam (with
Asom Gana Parishad 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,
Gujarat,
Haryana (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,
Madhya Pradesh,
Manipur (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),
Tripura (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 (with
Apna Dal (Sonelal)) and
Uttarakhand.
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, other small parties and independents),
Meghalaya (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 (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 (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 he ...
). 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, 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,
Rajasthan and
Jharkhand, and has been the junior coalition partner in governments in
Andhra Pradesh (with the
Telugu Desam Party),
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 (with the
Biju Janata Dal),
Punjab (with the
Shiromani Akali Dal), and
Tamil Nadu (with the
All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam). It has never held power in
Kerala,
Telangana, and
West Bengal.
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.
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
*
Leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party in the Parliament of India
*
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 president being the highest authority in the party. The party is co ...
*
Politics of India
*
List of ruling political parties by country
References
Explanatory notes
Citations
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* 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
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* 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
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