Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) (political party)

The Bharatiya Janata Party, commonly known as the BJP, is one of the main political parties in India, the other being the Indian National Congress. The BJP advocates for Hindu nationalism, social conservatism, a free-market economy, and a robust national defense. Hindu nationalism defines Indian identity in terms of Hindu religious values. The BJP was founded in 1980 as a successor to the Bharatiya Jana Sangh, a party formed in 1951 to oppose the policies of the Indian National Congress, particularly its appeasement of Muslims and other minority groups in India. The BJP upheld Bharatiya Jana Sangh's tradition of non-appeasement and Hindu nationalism.

In the mid-2010s, BJP was the largest political party in India and claimed to be the largest political organization in the world, with nearly 90 million registered members. This success came only after more than a decade of dismal election results across India. The 2014 general election changed this. BJP prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi claimed victory with a huge number of votes and helped his party secure a majority government.

Background

The origins of the Bharatiya Janata Party date back to 1951, when Indian politician Syama Prasad Mookerjee founded the political party Bharatiya Jana Sangh. Mookerjee had been a prominent official in the government of Indian prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru, a member of the Indian National Congress. In 1950, Nehru agreed to the Liaquat-Nehru Pact, or the Delhi Pact, with Prime Minister Liaquat Ali Khan of neighboring Pakistan. The pact sought to protect the civil rights of minorities in each country, particularly Muslim minorities in India and Hindu minorities in Pakistan.

Mookerjee opposed the policy of appeasing Muslims and other minorities in India. He believed that India should practice Hindu nationalism. This is a political ideology calling for the government, culture, and customs of India to operate based on the values of Hinduism, a thoroughly Indian religion, according to subscribers of the ideology. Mookerjee resigned from Nehru's government in April 1950 and founded the conservative Bharatiya Jana Sangh party on October 21, 1951, with himself as its first president. Bharatiya Jana Sangh supported social conservatism and a Hindu nationalistic policy of rejecting accommodation of India's Muslim minorities. Over the next year, Bharatiya Jana Sangh won three seats in India's parliament. Mookerjee died in prison in 1953 after being arrested for illegally entering the region of Jammu and Kashmir, ownership of which had been hotly contested by India and Pakistan.

Bharatiya Jana Sangh started collaborating with other political parties in the late 1960s to elect party members to state governments throughout India. The party combined forces with the Janata Party in 1977 to mount a powerful political defense against the policies of India National Congress prime minister Indira Gandhi, who wanted to appease India's Muslim minorities.

The Janata Party won election to the national government in 1977. Its rule lasted only until 1979, when the government dissolved. Members of Bharatiya Jana Sangh, spurred by conflict between their party and the Janata Party, then broke away from the alliance with the intention of forming a new party devoted to Hindu nationalism. This party became the Bharatiya Janata Party, founded on April 6, 1980. Future prime minister of India Atal Bihari Vajpayee served as the BJP's first president.

Impact

The BJP initially struggled to gain political traction. The 1984 national elections returned dismal results for BJP candidates, and party leadership realized the need for change. L.K. Advani took over the presidency of the party that year, bringing to the role an especially fervent form of Hindu nationalism that firmly opposed integrating India's Muslim minorities into Indian life. Under Advani, the BJP drew attention to government policies it believed were simply indulging minority wishes. It supported policies popular among many Hindus, such as revoking the special government status bestowed upon the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir, a mostly Muslim region. The BJP enjoyed newfound popularity among Hindus in the late 1980s for its call to build a temple to the Hindu god Rama in Ayodhya in the state of Uttar Pradesh.

These campaigns produced tangible results in India's general election of 1991. The BJP enjoyed revitalized voter support, which translated into a significant increase in parliamentary seats. Vajpayee was elected the BJP prime minister of India in 1996, but his government lasted only thirteen days before he resigned. He was elected prime minister again in 1998, as part of a BJP coalition with other parties. This government also ended quickly, dissolving in 1999 after certain coalition members withdrew their support. New elections that year saw Vajpayee elected as prime minister a third time. He was able to serve his full five-year term but was not reelected in the 2004 elections.

The BJP fell out of general favor for a time after this, failing to secure many national votes even through the 2009 elections. The 2014 general election changed this. BJP candidate for prime minister Narendra Modi ran a vigorous campaign that was compared to an American-style presidential bid. He was ultimately elected prime minister in May 2014. Modi introduced a number of popular policies to Indian life. These included expanding public access to bank accounts, introducing a national sanitation campaign, and regulating India's real estate industry to create more security in the housing market.

In early 2015, the BJP claimed it was the largest political organization in the world, with more than 88 million members worldwide. This made it larger even than the Communist Party of China, which claimed about one million fewer members. The BJP's surge in membership appeared after a massive campaign by Modi throughout 2014 to register people to the party. Modi and his government were reelected in the 2019 general election. The 2024 election gave Modi another win, securing him a third term. However, his party failed to win the majority and lost over 50 seats in a surprising blow. While the party supports Hindu nationalism, these ideas are not resonating with large parts of the country. Further, the economic state of the country disappointed many as India faces high levels of inequality and youth unemployment.

Bibliography

Bajpaee, Dr. Chietigj. "India's Shock Election Results Is a Loss For Modi But a Win for Democracy." Chatham House, 6 June 2024, www.chathamhouse.org/2024/06/indias-shock-election-result-loss-modi-win-democracy. Accessed 22 Jan. 2025. 

Balachandran, Manu, and Saptarishi Dutta. "Here's How the BJP Surpassed China's Communists to Become the Largest Political Party in the World." Quartz, 31 Mar. 2015, qz.com/372466/heres-how-the-bjp-surpassed-chinas-communists-to-become-the-largest-political-party-in-the-world/. Accessed 22 Jan. 2025.

Biswas, Soutik. "Why India's Modi Failed to Win Outright Majority." BBC, 4 June 2024, www.bbc.com/news/articles/c977g8gl5q2o. Accessed 22 Jan. 2025. 

"BJP: A Journey of 29 Years." NDTV, 8 Apr. 2009, www.ndtv.com/india-news/bjp-a-journey-of-29-years-390952. Accessed 22 Jan. 2025.

"BJP: History and Ideology." Hindustan Times, 25 Aug. 2009, www.hindustantimes.com/india/bjp-history-and-ideology/story-1uVvXt2RcLYjjIM6ZKJxJN.html. Accessed 22 Jan. 2025.

Deepalakshmi, K. "Two Years of Modi Government: A Review." Hindu, 25 May 2016, www.thehindu.com/news/national/Two-years-of-Modi-government-a-review/article14340383.ece. Accessed 22 Jan. 2025.

Sachdeva, Charnamrit. "The Rise of Hindu Nationalism…The Rise of Bharatiya Janata Party." NewsX, 6 Apr. 2015, www.newsx.com/national/1897-the-rise-of-hindu-nationalism-the-rise-of-bharatiya-janata-party. Accessed 22 Jan. 2025.

Shackle, Samira. "What Is Hindu Nationalism?" New Humanist, 27 May 2014, newhumanist.org.uk/articles/4663/what-is-hindu-nationalism. Accessed 22 Jan. 2025.