BJP

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is India’s largest right‑of‑centre political organisation, distinguished by its articulation of Hindutva—a cultural nationalism rooted in the ideology of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). Since its formal registration on 6 April 1980, the party has progressed from a marginal parliamentary presence to commanding a majority in the Lok Sabha, the lower house of Parliament, with 303 of 543 seats after the 2019 general election. Its current prime minister, Narendra Modi, has led the party through two consecutive national mandates, reshaping India’s domestic agenda and foreign posture. The BJP’s rapid expansion—claiming over 180 million registered members by 2023—makes it a pivotal force in the world’s most populous democracy. Its blend of electoral pragmatism and ideological assertiveness sets it apart from India’s historically dominant Congress Party. ## Origins and Historical Background The BJP traces its lineage to the Bharatiya Jana Sangh, founded on 21 October 1951 by Syama Prasad Mookerjee and Dattopant Thengdi as the political wing of the RSS. After the Emergency (1975‑77) imposed by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, the Jana Sangh merged with several opposition groups to form the Janata Party, which won the 1977 election; however, ideological friction over the RSS’s role led former Jana Sangh members to split and re‑establish the BJP on 6 April 1980 under the leadership of Atal Bihari Vajpayee and L.K. Advani. In its first Lok Sabha election in 1984, the BJP secured only two seats, but the party’s vote share rose from 2.4 % to 11.9 % by the 1991 election, reflecting its growing appeal in northern and western states. ## Ideological Foundations The BJP’s core philosophy, Hindutva, was codified by RSS ideologue Vinayak Damodar Savarkar in the 1920s and later adapted by party strategists to emphasize a unified Indian culture anchored in Hindu traditions. This cultural agenda is complemented by a pro‑market economic stance introduced in the 1990s, which advocated deregulation, foreign direct investment, and the Goods and Services Tax (GST) enacted on 1 July 2017, consolidating over 1,200 indirect taxes into a single rate structure. Socially, the party has promoted policies such as the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan (Clean India Mission) launched on 2 October 2014, targeting the construction of 100 million household toilets by 2019, a target it claimed to have achieved in March 2019. ## Electoral Rise and Governance The BJP first entered national government as part of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in March 1998, with Vajpayee as prime minister; the coalition completed a full five‑year term, overseeing nuclear tests at Pokhran in May 1998 and the Kargil conflict in 1999. After a narrow defeat in the 2004 election, the party rebuilt its grassroots network, culminating in the 2014 general election where it won 282 seats—an absolute majority for the first time since independence—and secured 31.34 % of the popular vote. The 2019 election amplified this dominance to 303 seats and 37.36 % vote share, enabling the Modi government to pass landmark legislation including the abrogation of Article 370 on 5 August 2019, which revoked Jammu & Kashmir’s special status, and the Citizenship Amendment Act on 12 December 2019, amending the citizenship law to fast‑track entry for non‑Muslim minorities from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, and Pakistan. ## Organizational Structure and Leadership The BJP’s internal hierarchy is anchored by the National Executive, a 115‑member body chaired by the party president; as of July 2023, the president is J.P. Nadda, who succeeded Amit Shah. The party conducts biennial elections for its national council, which comprises representatives from each state unit, and maintains a cadre‑based system where RSS volunteers are inducted as “swayamsevaks” to manage local booths and electioneering. Membership data released by the Election Commission of India in 2022 listed 180.6 million individuals on the BJP’s roll, surpassing the combined membership of all other national parties, a figure the party attributes to its “digital enrolment” drive launched in 2015. ## Current Status and Implementation During its second term (2019‑2024), the BJP has overseen a fiscal consolidation that reduced the fiscal deficit from 6.4 % of GDP in 2019‑20 to 5.0 % in 2022‑23, while GDP growth averaged 6.8 % in 2021‑22, according to the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation. Internationally, the Modi administration has deepened strategic ties with