Overview
Bharatiya Janata Party is the primary member of the family of organisations known as the "Sangh Parivar". It has risen to become one of the strongest national-level parties in the country based on its progressive agenda of focusing on overall speedy growth of the nation. The party has always remained indefatigable in its approach to national unity, integrity, identity and strength through its individual and national character The BJP, which is nurtured by and akin to the Rashtria Swyamsevak Sangh (RSS), is wedded to India’s intrinsic identity and cultural fabric of unity and distinctiveness that have been the hallmark of this great country and its people for millennia.
The BJP, today, is all set for a great leap forward which can bring about a paradigm-shift in the life of every Indian, so much so as to rewrite the history of this great nation in a way that its future generations would be proud of. Even the party’s detractors now believe that Bharatiya Janata Party has transformed into an "unstoppable" force.
Philosophy
Hindutva or Cultural Nationalism presents the BJP's conception of Indian nationhood. It must be noted that Hindutva is a nationalist, and not a religious or theocratic, concept.
According to a 1995 Supreme Court of India judgement the word Hindutva could be used to mean "the way of life of the Indian people and the Indian culture or ethos".
Dharma sustains the society
Historically, in India we had not considered the state to be the sole representative of the nation. Our national life continued uninterruptedly even after the state went in the hands of foreigners. However, to consider something important is different from saying that it is supreme. If the state is not supreme, then what are those factors? The ideals of the nation constitute "Chiti", which is analogous to the soul of an individual. The laws that help manifest and maintain Chiti of a Nation are termed Dharma of that nation. Hence it is this "Dharma" that is supreme. Dharma is the repository of the nation's soul. If Dharma is destroyed, the Nation perishes. Anyone who abandons Dharma betrays the nation.
Dharma and Religion are different
We think that it was in the name of Dharma that bitter battles were fought throughout our history. However, battles of religion and battles for Dharma are two different things. Religion means a creed or a sect; it does not mean Dharma. Dharma is very wide concept. It is concerned with all aspects of life. The fundamental principles of Dharma are eternal and universal. Yet their implementation may differ according to time, place and circumstances.
Education - A Social Responsibility
Education is a similar investment. An educated individual will indeed serve the society. On the other hand it will not be surprising if people grow indifferent to the society which left them to fend for themselves. The society, therefore should guarantee to all its members a minimum requirement for maintenance and progress, for which it needs resources. This can be attained by achieving the objectives.
The Objectives of our Economy should be
- An assurance of minimum standard of living to every individual and preparedness for the defense of the nation.
- Further increase above this minimum standard of living whereby the individual and the nation acquires the means to contribute to the world progress on the basis of its own 'Chiti'.
- To provide meanings employment to every able-bodied citizens by which the above two objectives can be realized and to avoid waste and extravagance in utilizing natural resources.
- To develop suitable machines for Bharatiya conditions (Bharatiya Technology) taking note of the availability and nature of the various factors of production
Integral Humanism
Integral Humanism, among the guiding precepts of the Bharatiya Janata Party, was first presented by Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya in the form of four lectures delivered in Bombay on April 22-25, 1965. It distinguishes Indian systems from other prevalent systems like communism and capitalism and outlines the following sins:
- Politics without Principles
- Wealth without work
- Commerce without Morality
- Knowledge without Character
- Pleasure without Conscience
- Science without humanity
- Worship without sacrifice
Leadership
Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee
Shri Vajpayee was Prime Minister of India from May 16-31, 1996, and then again from March 19, 1998 to May 13, 2004. With his swearing-in as Prime Minister after the parliamentary election of October 1999, he became the first and only person since Jawaharlal Nehru to occupy the office of the Prime Minister of India through three successive LokSabhas. Shri Vajpayee was the first Prime Minister since Smt. Indira Gandhi to lead his party to victory in successive elections.
Shri L K Advani
Shri L K Advani is currently Chairman BJP Parliamentary Party. Through the years Advaniji had served as the President of the Bharatiya Janata Party for the longest period since its inception in 1980. Capping a parliamentary career of nearly three decades, Advaniji was, first, the Home Minister and, later, the Deputy Prime Minister in the cabinet of Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee (1999-2004).
Through the latter half of the 1980s and the 1990s, Advaniji focused on the singular task of building the BJP into a national political force. The results of his efforts were underscored by the 1989 General Election. The Party bounced back from its 1984 tally of 2 to achieve an impressive 86 seats. The Party position moved up to 121 seats in 1992 and 161 in 1996; making the 1996 elections a watershed in Indian democracy. For the first time since independence, the Congress was dethroned from its preeminent position, and the BJP became the single largest party in the Lok Sabha.
Shri Rajnath Singh
Born on July 10, 1951, in a farmer's family at village Babhora, TehasilChakia, District Varansi (now district Chanduli), UP, to ShriRambadan Singh and Srimati Gujarati Devi, Shri Rajnath Singh received his basic education in the village. Subsequently he completed his MSc Physics from Gorakhapur University UP. He worked as a lecturer of Physics at K.B. Post-Graduate College Mirzapur, UP.
He became the BJP National President on December 31, 2005, a post he held till December 19, 2009. In May 2009, he was elected MP from Ghaziabad in Uttar Pradesh. Shri Rajnath Singh got elected for another term as BJP President on January 23, 2013.
Shri Narendra Modi
Born on September 17th , 1950 at Vadnagar, a small town in Mehsana district of North Gujarat, Shri Narendra Modi grew up in a culture that instilled in him the values of generosity, benevolence and social service. During the India-Pak war in the mid sixties, even as a young boy, he volunteered to serve the soldiers in transit at railway stations. In 1967, he served the flood affected people of Gujarat. Endowed with excellent organizational capability and a rich insight into human psychology, he served in Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) and played a prominent role in various socio-political movements in Gujarat.
In October 2001, he was called upon by the party to lead the Government in Gujarat. When Shri Modi ‘s government was sworn in on October 7, 2001, the economy of Gujarat was reeling under the adverse effects of several natural calamities, including a massive earthquake in January 2001. However Shri Narendra Modi, a master strategist, who was enriched by national and international exposure and experience, decided to take the bull by its horns.
Smt Sushma Swaraj
Smt Sushma began her political career with Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad in the 1970s. She joined the Janata Party movement and campaigned against The Emergency. She was a Member of the Haryana Legislative Assembly from 1977–82 and then again from 1987–90. In July 1977, she was sworn in as a Cabinet Minister in the Janata Party Government headed by Devi Lal. She became State President of Janata Party (Haryana) in 1979, when she was 27. She was Education Minister, Haryana in the Bharatiya Janata Party-Lok Dal coalition government during 1987–90.
She resigned from the Union Cabinet to take over as the first woman Chief Minister of Delhi in October 1998. BJP lost the Assembly elections because of rising prices and inflation. She resigned her Assembly seat and returned to national politics.
Shri Arun Jaitley
Arun Jaitley had been the member of the ABVP, the student wing of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) during his student years. He has been a member of the national executive of Bharatiya Janata Party since 1991. He became the spokesman of the BJP during the period preceding the 1999 general election. After the Vajpayee Government came to power under the umbrella of the National Democratic Alliance, he was appointed Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting (Independent Charge) on October 13, 1999. He took over the additional charge of the Ministry of Law, Justice and Company Affairs on July 23, 2000 following the resignation of Ram Jethmalani as the Union Cabinet Minister of Law, Justice and Company Affairs.
He is currently a Rajya Sabha member from Gujarat (as of March 2006). He was chosen as the Leader of the opposition in Rajya Sabha on June 3, 2009 by L.K. Advani. On June 16, 2009 he resigned from the post of General Secretary of BJP as per his party's One Man One Post principle. He is also a member of the Central Election Committee of the party.