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BJP

The Bharatiya Janata Party (Indian People's Party), created in 1980, is today one of the largest national political parties in India. In a political world seen as divided into left and right wings, the BJP is the unquestionable icon of the right. It is a champion of socio-religious cultural values of the country's Hindu majority, in favour of free market economics, conservative social policies and strong national defense. It finds its primary base of support in the urban and semi-urban middle class, business and merchant classes and religious and social conservatives. Its constituency is strengthened by the broad umbrella of Hindu nationalist organizations, informally known as the Sangh Parivar (Family of "Sangh" organizations), whose leader is the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh.

In the collage world of national politics, it stands as an opposite pole to its historic opponent, the Indian National Congress, which stands for secularism and socialism. The BJP has also allied with regional cultural forces to roll back the centralising tendencies formerly endorsed by the Congress Party, which dominated central government for four decades. The ideological rallying cry of the BJP is Hindutva, literally "Hinduness," or cultural Hindu nationalism.

The BJP is a fairly young party, only 25 years old, and ran the Government of India between 1998 and 2004, under Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Deputy Prime Minister Lal Krishna Advani, its most senior leaders. However, it has done so as the leading party within the National Democratic Alliance, of which it remains a part even today, and leads the opposition. It has never won a parliamentary majority by itself.

Origin and Rise

The BJP arose from the ashes of the Janata Party alliance, which formed India's first non-Congress government (1977-1979). Destroyed by a thunderous victory for Indira Gandhi's Congress Party, the Janata took down scores of opposition parties with it, including the Bharatiya Jana Sangh, the BJP's forefather.

The Bharatiya Jana Sangh (Indian People's Union) was founded in 1952 by Syama Prasad Mookerjee, a Bengali Hindu nationalist leader, former Union Minister and freedom-fighter. It was considered the political wing of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, a mass public nationalist organization that is the Godfather of Hindu Nationalism and Hindutva. But the young party's fortunes floundered in 1953, when Mookherjee died in Kashmir in jail during a protest. It lasted for 24 more years, but never succeeded in winning control of any state or more than a small share of the Union Parliament's seats. It could never challenge the Indian National Congress, leader of the nation's freedom movement for a political majority, and always had to contend with lesser socialist parties for second and third places. However, the party nourished future leaders who were seasoned with tough political experiences, like the great parliamentarian, mass leader and future Prime Minister, the young Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

When Indira Gandhi imposed a state of emergency in 1975, postponing elections and exercising major central powers granted by the Constitution for emergency situations, the BJS joined a collage of opposition parties in active protest. Several of its leaders were arrested, including Vajpayee. But when Gandhi called elections in 1977, the BJS sank all its political and organizational capital in supporting the new Janata Party alliance of opposition parties. A mixture of socialist, regionalists, communists and former Congressmen, the party was united in opposition to the Emergency and Indira Gandhi, and that alone. The Janata defeated Indira Gandhi's Congress Party in a landslide and formed the government under Morarji Desai's Premiership in 1977. Vajpayee, the most senior BJS leader became Minister for External Affairs, responsible for foreign policy. His close friend and political comrade Lal Krishna Advani became the Minister for Information and Broadcasting.

The Janata government lasted for barely 2 years, and following its collapse, Indira Gandhi's Congress returned in a thunderous landslide victory. The BJS was destroyed politically and organizationally.

The BJP was conceived in December 1980, under the direct leadership of the dumvirate of Vajpayee and Advani. In 1984's Parliament, where the Congress Party won a massive landslide following Indira Gandhi's assassination, the BJP controlled only 2 seats out of 543. But in 1989's Parliament, the BJP won 88. It supported the Janata Dal coalition of V.P. Singh, but from the outside. It too collapsed in less than two years.

In 1991's Parliament, the BJP became the premier Opposition party, and the Congress government was a coalition one. In 1996, the BJP became the single-largest political party in Parliament, with the Congress at its lowest ever. The President of the Republic appointed A.B. Vajpayee as Prime Minister, and the BJP worked to foster a coalition that could command a majority in the Lok Sabha and rule the country, but a deadlock caused Vajpayee to resign after only 13 days in power.

After two years of failed third-party coalitions, the BJP again won the largest bloc of seats in 1998. This time, the BJP formed the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) with allied political parties, won a slim majority, and A.B. Vajpayee returned as Prime Minister. But the coalition ruptured in May 1999, and fresh elections were again called.

On October 13, 1999, the BJP-led NDA won as many as 303 seats. The BJP won an all-time high of 183. Vajpayee won his third-term as Prime Minister, and L.K. Advani became the Deputy Prime Minister and held the powerful Home Ministry. This NDA Government lasted for its full 5 years, ushering in what can be seen as an era of mature, coalition politics in Indian democracy.

Hindu Nationalism

The BJP is a nationalist party. It rises in the defence of indigenous culture, Indian religious systems like Hinduism, Jainism, Sikhism and Buddhism. To many Hindu nationalists, Bharat is a Hindu Rashtra, literally a Hindu nation.

This definition does not exclude Muslims, Christians and other minorities. According to the BJP, Hindu Rashtra is cultural nationalism. Hinduism is but the entire systems of faith and worship, culture and history that have developed in India over the past 5,000 years. It was first defined using terms such as "Hinduism," Vedic or such alternative terms only in the 1800s. All the peoples of India, their cultures and heritage are "Hindu," which literally means "inhabitant of the land of the river Sindhu," the modern-day Indus. According to the rhetoric espoused by them, Muslims and Christians, are seen as a part of the national "Hindu" fabric, and could not have thrived as they have without the Hindu sense of the brotherhood of all mankind.

The BJP has been accused of being a xenophobic, racist and fascist organization by its opponents. Its supporters, on the other hand, argue that it is a conservative, nationally-orientated party and does not wish to polarise the country on communal grounds. The life and work of the BJP is seen by many as strongly influenced by the 'culture wars' in the country, the past 1,000 years of foreign invasions and domination, and the Partition of India in 1947.

The partition was traumatic legacy for all religious communities in India. Most Hindus and Sikhs from Pakistan had to flee to India a state which was created especially for the Muslim peoples of the Indian subcontinent. During the chaos surrounding Partition, over 10 million Muslims left India, over 1 million Hindus and Muslims were killed in religious violence and over 10 million Hindus had to flee the territories that became Pakistan in the wake of horrendous carnage. The trauma of midnight evacuations of ancestral homes, and being forced to wade through murderous violence, chaos and confusion to despair and helplessness in a different land which became their home, has struck deep in the veins of Hindus and Hindu consciousness.

The territorial dispute over Jammu and Kashmir and the wars of 1947-48, 1962, 1965, and 1971 and recently the 1999 Kargil War have not helped develop a sense of safety for most Indians, especially Hindus, who feel they must remain viligant against threats from Pakistan, China and others.

In addition, many conservative Hindus cannot help suspecting the patriotic commitment of Muslims, despite much evidence to the contrary.

This insecurity over invasions, religious freedom and safety of one’s own people has in modern days formed the backbone of the BJP’s core agenda and strongest supporters. The RSS was the first organized entity to capture the soul of Hindu nationalism, in 1925. The BJS, the VHP and now the BJP were later entities created to further the cause.

The BJP’s agenda is not to boot out non-Hindus from India, but develop an environment of absolute security and freedom for all citizens, so that Muslims may not threaten the future of Hindus and Hindus may not do the same for Muslim Indians. The BJP seeks to protect the natural Hindu-majority because the country’s majority of people are Hindus and it has never been otherwise.

However, the BJP has often been accused of participation in religious violence and using religiously sensitive issues for political advantage. These accusations, some backed by facts have tarnished the BJP’s images in the eyes of millions of people, Hindus and Muslims alike. Many journalists and observers feel that the BJP is a fascist organization, and that it actually seeks the ejection of Muslims from India. However the BJP does have prominent Muslims in positions of leadership like Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi and the late Sikandar Bakht.

It is a fact, that the BJP has certain demands and actions to its credit that are explicitly controversial. The Ram Janmbhoomi Mandir in Ayodhya is a case in point.

Claims are made that Muslim invaders destroyed an ancient temple in the city of Ayodhya in medieval times. Supposedly built on its head was the Babri Mosque. Standing up to the 20th century, by 1947 it was a dilapidated, ignored and out-of-use mosque.

The VHP in the 1970s inaugurated an organized campaign to re-build the Hindu temple there. But only because the site was supposedly considered the birthplace of Lord Rama of the Ramayana, the epic hero-God of Hindus, the most popular incarnation of the Supreme Lord Vishnu.

For two decades, the protests were peaceful. But in the late 1980s, the issue turned more controversial than ever. The VHP began demanded a direct demolition of the mosque, and the BJP embraced the issue as its own.

The Ram temple having become a major demand of the BJP, its activists joined the ranks of protestors, and many major party rallies were held in Ayodhya. On the emotive strength of this issue, the BJP won the elections in the India's most populous state Uttar Pradesh in 1991, and rose to national prominence.

But on December 3, 1992, a parade of protestors burst upon the mosque and tore it down with pickaxes and shovels. The rally was being led by Lal Krishna Advani, the BJP’s leader and many senior VHP and RSS leaders were close by, giving the strong impression that the destruction was pre-planned. And across the country, violent mobs broke loose, killing over 10,000 people, Muslims in orgies of anger, murder, looting and burning. It was a terrible event that shook the country’s sinews, and strained the fabric of secularism. The VHP was banned and BJP’s Advani was arrested amongst others. Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi are two BJP leaders on a CBI chargesheet for the destruction.

But the BJP’s political rise was now meteoric. Within four years, it was the single-largest political party in Parliament. Loathed by the left, the Muslim community and secular Hindus, it was worshipped by millions of energized Hindu conservatives.

Some Hindus felt energized by the fact that the Central Government could no longer take the concerns of Hindus lightly as they felt it had done in the past. Conservative Hindus had been especially angered that the Congress Party, dominated by centrist, left-wing and secular figures, routinely caved in to Muslim demands and never listened to Hindu voices, in fact further dividing them into caste and lower caste Hindus, and by routinely railing against untouchability, dowry and casteism, developing a negative image of Hindus for the world.

The BJP’s Core Agenda

The BJP’s rank-and-file leadership derives itself from the cadre of the RSS, claimed to be the largest public organization in the world, with a membership exceeding 5 million minimum, and with umbrella groups considered, over 10 million. It also maintains close links with the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (World Hindu Council), a socio-religious organization working to represent Hindus on religious and cultural issues. This organization, however, has a more decidedly Hindu fundamentalist streak.

With organizations like the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (All India Students Council), and the Swadeshi Jagran Manch (“Arise Home Front’’, idolizing the consumption of home-produced goods and services alone), the Sangh Parivar forms a diverse coalition of public organizations providing political support and organization strength to the BJP. These organizations are deeply influential to the BJP’s core agenda.

The BJP’s Core Agenda is inspired chiefly by Hindu nationalism, and zeal to undo many of the socio-economic and government cultures generated by the Congress Party’s 40-year dominance in national politics. Though not in order of importance, the BJP’s chief goals may be summarized as follows:

(1)The Repeal of Article 370 of the Constitution, which grants a special status to Muslim-majority state of Jammu and Kashmir and prevents Indian citizens from settling in the state, in an effort to protect its Muslim-majority.

(2)The Promulgation of a Uniform Common Civil Code, which create only one personal and civil law code for Hindus, Muslims and Christians, who enjoy the privilege of having law codes tailored to their religious culture over personal and family matters. In the minds of BJP supporters, this system creates a sense of division in the country between religious communities.

(3)The Ban on Cow Slaughter, to honor the Hindu tradition of deeming cows and most cattle as sacred, and prohibiting the consumption of beef and pork.

(4)The Ban on Religious Conversions, to prevent Islamic and Christian missionaries from converting Hindus. It has become virtually impossible to distinguish forcible incidents from personal choice, and the BJP considers it important to protect the Hindu majority from the political agendas of extremist Muslim and Christian groups.

(5)The Construction of the Ram Janmbhoomi Mandir in Ayodhya.

(6)To achieve the full Territorial and Political Integration of Jammu and Kashmir with Bharat. Presently over 40% of the territory is under illegal control of Pakistan and China.

The BJP stands for strong national defense, small government and free-market economic policies, but Hindutva has been its core philosophy and identity ever since its inception.

Its political equivalents in other countries may be found in America's right-wing Republican Party, which espouses strong defense, small government and socially conservative, Christian-majority values. In Bangladesh, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party is a similar body, only Muslim-minded. In the U.K., the Conservative Party is a possible comparison.

The BJP's First Government (1996-1996)

After the general elections of 1996 the BJP emerged as the largest political party in the Lok Sabha, and Atal Bihari Vajpayee was asked by the then President of India, Dr. Shankar Dayal Sharma, to form and lead the government. However Vajpayee resigned after 13 days since his cabinet could not secure majority approval in the Lok Sabha.

The BJP's Second Government (1998-2004)

Under Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, the new Government sent the country bursting into the new era, with the 5 nuclear tests at Pokhran, in Rajasthan in 1998, making Bharat a new-age nuclear power with a considerable weapons arsenal and technology. The Vajpayee administration also oversaw the country's defenses during the Kargil conflict, where thousands of soldiers, with artillery, aircraft and extremely dangerous assaults and operations, recovered strategic hills from Pakistani militants who had occupied and incursed into the Indian side of the Line of Control.

The BJP-led National Democratic Alliance passed the Prevention of Terrorism Act in , a stringent law increasing the powers of police authorities and intelligence agencies in an effort to destroy subversive political activities and terrorism. The POTA was promulgated chiefly in response to the December 13, 2001 terrorist attacks on the Union Parliament.

Vajpayee and his economic team also pushed through major privatizations of big government corporations, the Freedom of Information Act, the liberalization of trade rules, free trade, opening the skies to commercial airlines, foreign investment and ownership and developed "Special Economic Zones" where industries could enjoy special infrastructure. The Government specially catered to the rising Information Technology industry, and lowered taxes for middle-class Indians and businesses.

Vajpayee's Golden Quadrilateral road system was developed to link the four corners of the nation with heavy, industrial roads, and improve surface transport in the country as such. His education programs boosted the enrollment of children into primary schools, expanded aid for schools and pushed new-age technologies to improve schooling.

The Vajpayee administration presided over the biggest and longest-sustained economic boom in the country's history, starting in late . Record increases in agricultural and industrial production were matched by hungry middle-class consumers, and increasing foreign trade and investment. In 2004, the Government signed the South Asia Free Trade Agreement with Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Sri Lanka and the Maldives, a decision that will vastly benefit over 1.6 billion people.

Vajpayee was single-handedly responsible for three monumental efforts to build peaceful relations with Pakistan. In 1999, he rode on the Delhi-Lahore bus inaugural, and signed the Lahore Declaration with the Pakistani PM, committing Bharat to peace. Despite the betrayal to come 3 months later in Kargil, Vajpayee in 2001 invited the military ruler, Pervez Musharaff to Delhi, though the summit failed with no result. And despite the terrorist attacks that froze relations for two and a half years, Vajpayee, in a stunning and emotive speech to Parliament in August 2004, spoke of his "absolute last attempt of my life" to foster peace with Pakistan, de-freezing relations and invoking praise from world leaders.

The BJP was severely discredited by the Gujarat riots, where the Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi of the BJP was accused of protecting murderous Hindu mobs and obstructing the work of police to stop the anti-Muslim violence. Many BJP activists and some MLAs were involved in orchestrating the violence. Over 2,000 people were killed and tens of thousands displaced in the carnage. The BJP's hard-right wing attempted to defend and justify Modi's leadership, while the moderate wing was deeply embarrased and weakened by the effects of the fiasco on the party's image and its efforts to woo Muslim voters.

The 2000 Tehelka scam severely affected the credibility of the NDA, while the chargesheeting of L.K. Advani and others in the Babri Mosque demolition case in 2003 proved a further embarassment.

After Elections 2004

The BJP and the NDA suffered a surprise defeat in the elections in 2004, and failed to muster a parliamentary majority. A.B. Vajpayee passed on the premiership to Dr. Manmohan Singh of the Congress Party, and its United Progressive Alliance.

The defeat was incomprehensible to many, who assumed that the BJP would win on the basis of Vajpayee's widespread popularity, the national economic boom and Vajpayee's historical revival of the peace process with Pakistan. However for this assumption, the organization's volunteers did not work hard to canvass voters and recruit supporters, and the BJP's political campaign remained confined to television and radio, and no grass-roots effort was properly organized. But the major reason was the unrest amongst the nation's poverty-struck millions, who felt ignored and left out of the economic boom.

The BJP also lost in the Maharashtra state elections, which then brought on a full organization crisis, which was still in denial.

Faced with inter-alliance tensions, and quibbling amongst its younger, second-tier leadership, the BJP agreed to call on Lal Krishna Advani to assume the presidency and lead the party and the NDA in Parliament. Vajpayee was elected Chairman of the NDA, an honorary role but clearly indicative of his diminishing role in the party's future.

In June 2005, Advani's presidency was severely battered after he made comments praising Pakistan's founding-father, Mohammed Ali Jinnah as a "secular" leader. On a visit to Pakistan to transform his image from a hardliner to a peacenik in the Vajpayee mold, Advani invited a storm of criticism from the Hindu nationalist base of the party, and for several weeks lost control amidst fiery calls for his resignation. His resignation was given and retracted, and a public "clarification" of his comments announced, but Advani and the BJP were left bracing a political storm. Hammered in by the ruling coalition and the Left wing, the BJP's internal disarray severely afflicted its credentials with the people.

The future of the BJP, although leader of a powerful political movement, passes through a critical period of test, when a new generation succeeds the old and changes the direction of the party, and its fortunes.

External link

• Official BJP site
• BJP vis-à-vis Hindu Resurgence by Dr. Koenraad Elst Online book

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