Indian People’s Party is a political party in India. Along with the Indian National Congress, the BJP is one of India’s two major political parties. Since 2014, it has been the Republic of India’s leading political party, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is a right-wing party whose policies have historically mirrored Hindu nationalist views. It is ideologically and organizationally affiliated with the much older Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). It is the country’s largest political party in terms of seats in the national parliament and state legislatures as of February 17, 2022. In this blog we are going to tell you the Bharatiya Janata Party, so read this full blog to get the complete information.
Shyama Prasad Mukherjee founded the Sangh in 1951. Following the declaration of the State of Emergency in 1977, the Jana Sangh combined with several other parties to establish the Janata Party, which went on to beat the incumbent Congress party in the 1977 general election. After three years in office, the Janata Party dissolved in 1980, with components of the erstwhile Jana Sangh rejoining to establish the BJP. Although it was originally unsuccessful, gaining only two seats in the 1984 general election, the Ram Janmabhoomi movement helped it grow in strength. The BJP became the largest party in parliament in 1996 after victories in many state elections and improved results in national elections; nonetheless, it lacked a majority in the lower house of Parliament, and its administration, led by Atal Bihari Vajpayee, lasted just 13 days.
Following the 1998 general election, Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee led a BJP-dominated coalition known as the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) to create a one-year administration. Following new elections, the NDA government, once again led by Vajpayee, became the first non-Congress administration to serve a complete term in office. The NDA was defeated in the 2004 general election, and the BJP became the main opposition party for the following 10 years. In the 2014 general election, Gujarat’s long-serving Chief Minister Narendra Modi led the state to a resounding win. Modi has headed the NDA administration as Prime Minister since that election, and the coalition now dominates 18 states as of February 2019.
Integral humanism, initially established by Deendayal Upadhyaya in 1965, is the BJP’s official doctrine. The party identifies Hindutva as its ideology, and its actions have traditionally reflected Hindu nationalist sentiments. The BJP advocates for social conservatism as well as a nationalist foreign policy. Its main concerns have included the abolition of Jammu and Kashmir’s special status, the construction of a Ram Temple in Ayodhya, and the application of a unified civil code. The NDA administration of 1998–2004, on the other hand, did not pursue any of these contentious matters. Instead, it prioritized globalization and economic expansion over social welfare under a broadly liberal economic policy. Two of these significant policies have been adopted since 2014. On 5 August 2019, the newly re-elected BJP government abolished Jammu and Kashmir’s special status, and on 9 November 2019, the Supreme Court of India issued a definitive ruling in the Ayodhya dispute case, giving over the disputed property to a Trust for the construction of the Ram Mandir.
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Ideology and political positions
The BJP’s stated ideology is “Integral Humanism,” which was coined by Deendayal Upadhyaya in 1965 and characterized as proposing an “An indigenous economic paradigm that prioritizes the human being.” It is based on Hindutva philosophy. which was popularized by Indian independence activist Vinayak Damodar Savarkar. Hindutva, according to the BJP, is a form of cultural nationalism that favors Indian culture above westernization and hence encompasses all Indians, regardless of faith. Scholars and political observers, on the other hand, have described its Hindutva philosophy as a drive to rebuild India as a Hindu country to the exclusion of other religions, thereby making it a Hindu nationalist party in general. Due to the inclusion of parties with a broader variety of views, the BJP has slightly tempered its stance since the NDA was created in 1998.
The Hindutva philosophy of the BJP has been reflected in several government initiatives. It is in favor of the Ram Temple being built on the disputed site of the Babri Mosque. In the 1991 general elections, this topic was a prominent campaign issue for the party. However, the demolition of the mosque at a BJP rally in 1992 sparked a reaction, and the temple’s significance on the party’s agenda has waned. The National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) was restructured under the NDA government’s education strategy, and it was entrusted with significantly rewriting the textbooks used in Indian schools. Several academics have claimed that the revisions, particularly in history textbooks, were a clandestine attempt to “saffronize” Indian history. Despite the criticism of numerous eminent scientists, the NDA administration included Vedic astrology as a topic in college curricula.
Economic policies
Since its inception, the BJP’s economic policy has evolved significantly. Within the party, there is a wide spectrum of economic beliefs. It, like the Jana Sangh, mirrored the RSS’s and its affiliates’ ideas in the 1980s. Swadeshi (the development of indigenous businesses and goods) and a protectionist export policy were both advocated by the party. It did, however, promote domestic economic reform and opposed Congress’s preference for state-driven industrialization.
Electoral victory and the administration of the National Democratic Alliance
After winning the most seats in the Lok Sabha in the 1996 elections, India’s president asked the BJP to form a government. However, it only lasted a few months in government since it couldn’t assemble the 545-member lower house’s needed majority to rule. With Vajpayee as Prime Minister, the BJP and its partners were able to build a majority government in 1998. Nuclear weapons tests authorized by Vajpayee in May of that year received massive worldwide censure. Following the withdrawal of support from coalition partner All India Dravidian Progressive Federation (All India Anna Dravidian Munnetra Kazhagam) after 13 months in government, Vajpayee was forced to seek a vote of confidence in the Lok Sabha, which he lost by a single vote.
