The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP
pronunciation (help·info); translation: Indian People's Party) is one of the two major political parties in India, the other being the Indian National Congress. Established in 1980, it is India's second largest political party in terms of representation in the parliament and in the various state assemblies. The Bharatiya Janata Party was started by advocating Hindu nationalism and conservative social policies, self-reliance, free market capitalistic policy, foreign policy driven by a nationalist agenda, and strong national defense.[2]. The party's platform is generally considered right of center in the Indian political spectrum.[1]
The Bharatiya Jana Sangh was founded by Dr. Syama Prasad Mookerjee in 1951 to espouse the nationalist cause. The party opposed the appeasement policy of the Indian National Congress and was against any compromise in the matters of national integrity, unity and cultural identity. It was widely regared as the political arm of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. After Mookerjee's untimely death in prison in 1953 during an agitation demanding the effective integration of Jammu and Kashmir into India, the entire burden of nurturing the orphaned organisation and building it up as a nation-wide movement fell on the young shoulders of Deendayal Upadhyaya. For 15 years, he remained the outfit's general secretary and built it up. He raised a band of dedicated workers imbued with idealism and provided the entire ideological framework of the outfit, but never seriously challenged the power of Indian National Congress[citation needed]. He did however groom future political leaders like Vajpayee, Advani and others. However, the vast majority of the party workers including Upadhyaya himself were derived from the RSS and brought with them the patriotic fervour and discipline of the parent organisation[3]
The Jana Sangh won just three Lok Sabha seats in the first general elections in 1952. However, it gradually increased its strength and by 1962 had become one of the most effective opposition parties in India and seriously challenged the power of the Congress in various north Indian states. Uniform Civil code for all Indians, Ban on Cow slaughter, Scrapping of the special statues accorded to J&K, Promotion of Hindi were some of the major ideological issues taken up by the party.
After 1967, The party entered into coalition with like minded political parties and formed governments in various states such as Uttar Pradesh, Delhi and others. The party was in the forefront during the agitation against the emergency (1975–77) imposed by the Indira Gandhi regime and thousands of its leaders and workers were imprisoned across India. The party along with many other political parties merged with the Janata Party in 1977 to present an united opposition to the Congress. The Janata Party won with a huge majority in 1977 and formed the government with Morarji Desai as Prime Minister. Atal Bihari Vajpayee who had become the leader of the Jana Sangh after Upadhyaya's death in 1967 was appointed as the external affairs minister in the new government. The Janata government did not last long. Morarji Desai resigned as Prime Minister, and the Janata party was dissolved soon after. The BJS had devoted political organization to sustain the coalition and was left exhausted by the internecine wars within the Janata Party.
In 1980 the leaders and workers who were associated with the former Jana Sangh, founded the Bharatiya Janata Party with Vajpayee as its first President. The BJP was a strong critic of the Congress government, and while it opposed the Sikh militancy that was rising in the state of Punjab, it also blamed Indira Gandhi for divisive and corrupt politics that fostered the militancy at national expense. Sikh Leader Darasingh opines that Vajpayee thus "brought in Hindu-Sikh harmony."[4]
However, the BJP never supported Operation Bluestar, the BJP strongly protested the violence against Sikhs in Delhi that broke out in 1984 following the assassination of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi by one of her Sikh bodyguards. The BJP was left with only two parliamentary seats in the 1984 elections; the party, however, had established itself in the mainstream of Indian politics, and soon began expanding its organization to attract young Indians throughout the country. During this period, Vajpayee remained center-stage as party President and Leader of the Opposition in Parliament, but increasingly hard-line Hindu nationalists began to rise within the party and define its politics.
The BJP became the political voice of the Ram Janmabhoomi Mandir Movement, which was led by activists of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and the RSS, and was seeking to build a temple dedicated to Lord Rama in place of the Babri mosque in Ayodhya. Hindus believed the site was the birthplace of the Lord, and there existed a temple long before Babri mosque was built after demolishing the temple, and thus qualified as one of the most sacred sites of Hinduism, where a temple should be reconstructed. The party under its president Lal Krishna Advani galvanised the nation with various rath yatras and succeeded in awakening the Hindu identity.
On 6th December, 1992, hundreds of VHP and BJP activists broke down an organized protest into a frenzied attack, and razed the mosque. Over the following weeks, waves of violence between Hindus and Muslims erupted in various parts of the country, killing over 1000 people. The VHP was banned by the government, and many BJP leaders including Lal Krishna Advani were arrested briefly for provoking the destruction. Although widely condemned by many across the country for playing politics with sensitive issues, the BJP won the support of millions of conservative Hindus, as well as national prominence.
With victory in assembly elections of Delhi in 1993 and Gujarat and Maharashtra in March 1995, and a good performance in the elections to the Karnataka assembly in December 1994 propelled the BJP to the centerstage. During the BJP session at Mumbai in November 1995, BJP President L.K.Advani declared that Vajpayee would be the Prime Minister of India if the BJP won the next parliamentary elections scheduled for May 1996. In that election, the BJP emerged as the single largest party in the Lok Sabha and Vajpayee became Prime minister. He, however had to resign within 13 days as the BJP was unable to muster the required majority.
In the Lok Sabha elections held in 1998 the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) obtained a simple majority. This time, the BJP (NDA) had allied with the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) and the Biju Janata Dal besides its existing allies, the Samata Party, the Shiromani Akali Dal and Shiv Sena. Outside support was provided by the Telugu Desam Party. The NDA had a slim majority, and Vajpayee returned as Prime Minister after the 13-day stint in 1996.[5] But the coalition ruptured in May 1999 when the leader of AIADMK, Jayalalitha, withdrew her support, and fresh elections were again held.
On 13 October 1999, the BJP-led NDA riding on a wave of popularity following victory in the Kargil war and the charisma of Vajpayee, won 303 seats. The BJP alone had its highest ever tally of 183. Vajpayee became Prime Minister for the third time, and Advani became the Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister. This NDA Government lasted its full term of five years. Vajpayee and his economic team, led by Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha, continuing the policies initiated by the previous Congress Government under P. V. Narasimha Rao and Manmohan Singh, pushed through major privatizations of big government corporations, the liberalization of trade under World Trade Organization guidelines, airline deregulation, foreign investment and ownership and allowed private companies such as Mahindra World City and Reliance to build Special Economic Zones where property developers could build new cities with world-class infrastructure for factories that export products.
The BJP and the NDA suffered an unexpected defeat in the general elections in 2004, and failed to muster a parliamentary majority. Manmohan Singh of the Congress Party and United Progressive Alliance succeeded Vajpayee as Prime Minister.
In May 2008, the BJP won the state elections in Karnataka. This was the first time that the party had won in any south Indian state. In the 2009 general elections, BJP again faced defeat and its strength in Lok Sabha reduced to 116 seats. The unexpected defeat of BJP is attributed to bad performance of the party in Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Uttarakhand and Andhra Pradesh.
The highest authority in the party is the President. Officially, the BJP constitution provides for a three-year term for the President. Recently, both Venkaiah Naidu and LK Advani resigned ahead of schedule due to factionalism and controversies. Rajnath Singh held this post from 2006 to 2009, he was succeeded by Nitin Gadkari. Beyond this, there are several Vice-Presidents, General-Secretaries, Treasurers and Secretaries. The National Executive consists of an undetermined number of senior party leaders from across the nation who are the highest decision-making body in the party. At the state level, a similar structure is in place, with every state unit being led by the respective President, who also officially serves a three-year term.[6]
The rank-and-file leadership of BJP largely derives from the cadre of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), which has millions of affiliates. It also maintains close links to other Sangh Parivar organisations, such as Vishwa Hindu Parishad and Swadeshi Jagaran Manch (an organisation promoting economic protectionism).
Other organizations directly affiliated to the RSS include the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad which is the students' wing of the RSS, Bharatiya Kisan Sangh, the peasants' union and the Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh, which is the labour union.
BJP also maintains the BJP Mahila Morcha,which is its women's front, the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha, which is its youth wing, the BJP Minority Morcha, which is its Minority front and many other frontal organisations.
Atal Behari Vajpayee considers the European concept of "secularism" inappropriate for Indian culture, and places it in opposition to Mohandas Gandhi's doctrine of Sarva Dharma Sambhava, which he considers India's own, traditional form of secularism.[8] He describes the Indian secular as follows:
- Mahatma Gandhi describes the correct attitude towards religion as 'Sarva Dharma Sambhava', equal respect to all religions. The concept of 'Sarva Dharma Sambhava' is somewhat different from European secularism which is independent of religion ... We may say that the Indian concept of secularism is that of Sarva Dharma Sambhava ... Sarva Dharma Sambhava is not against any religion. It treats all religions with equal respect. And therefore it can be said that the Indian concept of secularism is more positive.[9]
The concept of Integral Humanism has a special place in its ideology, the BJP's right-wing politics include modern, conservatism, social conservatism, progressivism and enlightened nation which draws inspiration from India's ancient Indian culture and values. The BJP emphasize the role of free markets and individual achievement as the primary factors behind economic prosperity. To this end, they favor laissez-faire economics, fiscal conservatism, and the promotion of personal responsibility over welfare programs.[1] As per the party's constitution the objectives of the party are explained thus:
"The party is pledged to build up India as a strong and prosperous nation, which is modern, progressive and enlightened in outlook and which proudly draws inspiration from India's ancient culture and values and thus is able to emerge as a great world power playing an effective role in the community of Nations for the establishment of world peace and a just international order. The Party aims at establishing a democratic state which guarantees to all citizens irrespective of caste, creed or sex, political, social and economic justice, equality of opportunity and liberty of faith and expression. The Party shall bear true faith and allegiance to the Constitution of India as by law established and to the principles of socialism, secularism and democracy and would uphold the sovereignty, unity and integrity of India."
The BJP stands for strong national defence, small government[citation needed], and Quasi-market economic policies, but Integral Humanism has been its core philosophy and identity ever since its inception. The BJP stand on economic policies saw a sudden volte face in the mid nineties from a support of swadeshi products to the embracing of free market ideas. Another important factor is the ongoing territorial dispute over Jammu and Kashmir and the wars of 1947–48, 1962, 1965, and 1971, and recently the 1999 Kargil War. The party strongly advocates the view that Kashmir should remain an integral part of the country.[10]
Economic policy under BJP-led governments at the state and center has been heavily focused on infrastructure building and pro-reform, which is congenial to Indian interests and to necessary conforming to international regulations (like environment laws) market-oriented economic growth without making subtle changes to the existing policies.
States with BJP government in orange; states with BJP led
NDA coalition government in brown.
BJP is currently in power in six states (Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Chhattisgarh, Himachal Pradesh and Goa) where the party enjoys a majority of its own. In four other states — Punjab, Jharkhand, Nagaland and Bihar — it shares power with other political parties of NDA coalition. The party was in the co-government with BJD in Orissa .BJP has earlier ruled Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Arunachal Pradesh and till recently Uttarakhand.
In March 1998, when BJP began its rule at the center attacks against Christians throughout India had increased significantly including the killings of priests, the raping of nuns, and the physical destruction of Christian institutions, schools, churches, colleges, and cemeteries.[11]
In 2001 then BJP President Bangaru Laxman accepted bribe of 
100,000 (US$1,995)[12] for his favourable recommendation to the Defence Ministry[13] for supply of hand-held thermal imagers for the Indian Army[14], from Tehelka journalists, who, posing as arms dealers, filmed him in a fake arms deal operation. On April 2012, he was sentenced to four years rigorous imprisonment.[15]
In 2002, communal religious riots took place in Gujarat under BJP rule between Hindus and Muslims. The National Human Rights Commission criticized the government, pointing to "a comprehensive failure on the part of the State Government of Gujarat to control persistent violations of rights. A judicial commission headed by G.T. Nanavati, a former chief justice of the Indian Supreme Court, constituted to examine allegations of Gujarat state administration's involvement in the riots of 2002 said that there was no evidence to implicate either Modi or his administration in the riots.
In a 2005 book former Intelligence Bureau (IB) Joint Director Maloy Krishna Dhar claimed that Babri Masjid demolition was planned 10 months in advance by top leaders of RSS, BJP and VHP and raised questions over the way the then Prime Minister P V Narasimha Rao, had handled the issue. Dhar claimed that he was directed to arrange the coverage of a key meeting of the BJP/Sangh Parivar and that the meeting "proved beyond doubt that they (RSS, BJP, VHP) had drawn up the blueprint of the Hindutva assault in the coming months and choreographed the ‘pralaya nritya’ (dance of destruction) at Ayodhya in December 1992... The RSS, BJP, VHP and the Bajrang Dal leaders present in the meeting amply agreed to work in a well-orchestrated manner." Claiming that the tapes of the meeting were personally handed over by him to his boss, he asserts that he has no doubts that his boss had shared the contents with the Prime Minister (Rao) and the Home Minister (S B Chavan). The author claimed that there was silent agreement that Ayodhya offered "a unique opportunity to take the Hindutva wave to the peak for deriving political benefit."[16]
A 2009 report, authored by Justice Manmohan Singh Liberhan, blamed 68 people for the demolition of the mosque – mostly leaders from the BJP and a few bureaucrats. Among those named in the report were AB Vajpayee, the former BJP prime minister, and LK Advani, the party's then (2009) leader in parliament. Kalyan Singh, who was the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh during the mosque’s demolition, has also come in for harsh criticism in the report. He is accused of posting bureaucrats and police officers who would stay silent during the mosque’s demolition in Ayodhya.[17] Former Education Minister in NDA Government Mr. Murli Manohar Joshi have also been found culpable in the demolition in the Liberhan Commissions' Report. Anju Gupta, an Indian police officer appeared as a prosecution witness. She was in charge of Advani's security on the day of the demolition and she revealed that Advani and Murali Manohar Joshi made inflammatory speeches.[18]
- ^ a b c "Does India Still Need a Hindu Nationalist Party?". Foreign policy. http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2010/04/30/does_india_still_need_a_hindu_nationalist_party.
- ^ [1] About us – bjp.org
- ^ . JSTOR 30171643.
- ^ [2][dead link]
- ^ "Rediff On The NeT: TDP helps Vajpayee wins confidence vote". Rediff.com. http://www.rediff.com/news/1998/mar/28bjp.htm. Retrieved 2011-01-04.
- ^ "Bharatiya Janata Party – The Party with a Difference". Bjp.org. http://www.bjp.org/content/view/764/426/. Retrieved 2011-09-16.
- ^ India, Russia stand united in defense, By Sergei Blagov, Asia Times, November 8, 2001
- ^ Timothy Fitzgerald. Religion and Politics in International Relations: The Modern Myth. Continuum, 2011. ISBN 978-1441142900
- ^ Atal Behari Vajpayee. "The Bane of Pseudo-Secularism". In C. Jaffrelot (ed.), Hindu Nationalism: A Reader. Delhi: Permanent Black, 2007.
- ^ "Compromise on Kashmir will spark nationwide stir: BJP". Yahoo! News. http://in.news.yahoo.com/compromise-kashmir-spark-nationwide-stir-bjp-144511711.html. Retrieved 2 August 2011.
- ^ "Anti-Christian Violence on the Rise in India". Human Rights Watch. 29 September 1999. http://hrw.org/english/docs/1999/09/30/india1626.htm.
- ^ "Tehelka Sting: After Eleven Years, It Stings To Say This". Outlook (magazine). http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?280773. Retrieved May 09, 2012.
- ^ "Bangaru Laxman convicted of taking bribe". The Hindu. http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/article3360364.ece. Retrieved May 09, 2012.
- ^ "Tehelka sting: How Bangaru Laxman fell for the trap". India Today. http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/tehelka-sting-how-bangaru-laxman-fell-for-the-trap/1/186303.html. Retrieved May 09, 2012.
- ^ "Bangaru Laxman convicted for taking bribe". Tehelka. http://www.tehelka.com/story_main52.asp?filename=Ws270412Bangaru.asp. Retrieved May 09, 2012.
- ^ Babri Masjid demolition was planned 10 months in advance – PTI
- ^ Uproar over India mosque report: Inquiry into Babri mosque's demolition in 1992 indicts opposition BJP leaders Al-Jazeera English – November 24, 2009
- ^ In the dock, again, Frontline
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