Madhyamgram 19 No Ward Committee , Bharatiya Janata Party: BJP

a Sabha leader Arun Jaitley
Founded 6 April 1980 (34 years ago)
Preceded by Bharatiya Jana Sangh
Janata Party
Headquarters 11 Ashoka Road,
New Delhi 110001
Newspaper Kamal Sandesh
Student wing Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad
Youth wing Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha
Women's wing BJP Mahila Morcha
Peasant's wing BJP Kisan Morcha
Membership 36.4 million (2014)[1]
Ideology Hindu nationalism
Social conservatism
Gandhian socialism[2]
Integral humanism
Conservatism
Political position Right-wing[3][4]
International affiliation None
Colours Saffron
ECI Status National Party[5]
Alliance National Democratic Alliance (NDA)
Seats in Lok Sabha
281 / 545
[6](currently 542 members + 1 Speaker)
Seats in Rajya Sabha
45 / 245
[7](currently 243 members)
Election symbol
BJP election symbol.svg
Website
www.bjp.org
Politics of India
Political parties
Elections
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Hinduism

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The Bharatiya Janata Party (pronounced [bʱaːrət̪iːjə dʒənət̪aː paːrʈiː] ( listen); translation: Indian People's Party; abbr. BJP) is one of the two major parties in the Indian political system, along with the Indian National Congress. As of 2014, it is the country's largest political party in terms of representation in the national parliament and state assemblies. The BJP is a right-wing party,[3][4] with close ideological and organisational links to the Hindu nationalist Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. The BJP's origins lie in the Bharatiya Jana Sangh, formed in 1951 by Syama Prasad Mookerjee. After the State of Emergency in 1977, the Jana Sangh merged with several other parties to form the Janata Party; it defeated the incumbent Congress party in the 1977 general election. After three years in power, the Janata party dissolved in 1980 with the members of the erstwhile Jana Sangh reconvening to form the BJP. Although initially unsuccessful, winning only two seats in the 1984 general election, it grew in strength on the back of the Ram Janmabhoomi movement. Following victories in several state elections and better performances in national elections, the BJP became the largest party in the parliament in 1996; its government lasted only 13 days, due to lack of majority in the lower house of the parliament. After the 1998 general election, the BJP-led coalition known as the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) formed a government under Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee for a year. Following fresh elections, the NDA government, again headed by Vajpayee, lasted for a full term in office; this was the first non-Congress government to do so. In the 2004 general election, the NDA suffered an unexpected defeat, and for the next ten years the BJP was the principal opposition party. Long time Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi led it to a landslide victory in the 2014 general election. As of 2014, Modi leads the NDA government as Prime Minister and as of November 2014, the party holds a majority in eight states. The ideology of the BJP is "integral humanism", first formulated by Deendayal Upadhyaya in 1965. The party expresses a commitment to Hindutva, and its policy has historically reflected Hindu nationalist positions. The BJP advocates social conservatism and a foreign policy centred on nationalist principles. Its key issues have included the abrogation of the special status to Jammu and Kashmir, the building of a Ram temple in Ayodhya and the implementation of a uniform civil code. However, the 1998–2004 NDA government did not pursue any of these controversial issues. It instead focused on a largely neoliberal economic policy prioritizing globalisation and economic growth over social welfare. Contents

1 History
1.1 Bharatiya Jana Sangh (1951–77)
1.2 Janata Party (1977–80)
1.3 BJP (1980–present)
1.3.1 Formation and early days
1.3.2 Babri Masjid demolition and the Hindutva movement
1.3.3 NDA government (1998–2004)
1.3.4 2002 Gujarat Violence
1.3.5 General election defeat 2004, 2009
1.3.6 General election victory, 2014
2 General election results
3 Ideology and political positions
3.1 Social policies and Hindutva
3.2 Economic policies
3.3 Defence and terrorism
3.4 Foreign policy
4 Organisational structure
5 Presence in various states
5.1 List of Current NDA Chief Ministers
6 List of party presidents
7 See also
8 Notes and References
9 Further reading
10 External links

History
Bharatiya Jana Sangh (1951–77)
Main article: Bharatiya Jana Sangh

The BJP's origins lie in the Bharatiya Jana Sangh, popularly known as the Jana Sangh, founded by Syama Prasad Mookerjee in 1951 in response to the secular politics of the dominant Congress party. It was widely regarded to be the political arm of the voluntary Hindu nationalist organisation, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).[8] The Jana Sangh's aims included the protection of India's "Hindu" cultural identity, in addition to what it perceived to be the appeasement of Muslim people and Pakistan by the Indian National Congress and then-Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru.[9]

The first major campaign of the Jana Sangh was an agitation demanding the complete integration of Jammu and Kashmir into India. Mookerjee was arrested for violating orders, preventing him from leading the protest in Kashmir. He died in jail a few months later of a heart attack. The leadership of the organisation went to Deendayal Upadhyaya, and eventually to younger leaders such as Atal Bihari Vajpayee and L. Advani. The majority of the party workers, including Upadhyaya, continued to be adherents of the RSS. Despite the momentum gained through the Kashmir agitation, the Jana Sangh won three Lok Sabha seats in the first general elections in 1952. It maintained a minor presence in parliament until 1967. During this period, the main points on the party's agenda were legislating a uniform civil code, banning cow slaughter and abolishing the special status given to Jammu and Kashmir.[10][11][12]

After assembly elections across the country in 1967, the party entered into a coalition with several other parties, including the Swatantra Party and the socialists. It formed governments in various states across the Hindi heartland, including Madhya Pradesh, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. It was the first time the Jana Sangh held political office, albeit within a coalition; this caused the shelving of the Jana Sangh's more radical agenda.[13]
Janata Party (1977–80)
Main article: Janata Party

In 1975, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi imposed a state of emergency. The Jana Sangh took part in the widespread protests, with thousands of its members joining other agitators in jails across the country. In 1977, the emergency was cancelled and general elections were held. It merged with parties from across the political spectrum, including the Socialist Party, the Congress (O) and the Bharatiya Lok Dal to form the Janata Party, with its main agenda being defeating Indira Gandhi.[9]

The Janata Party won a huge majority in 1977 and formed a government with Morarji Desai as Prime Minister. Vajpayee, previously leader of the Jana Sangh, was appointed Minister of External Affairs. However, disagreements over power sharing between the various factions plagued the Janata government. After two and a half years, Desai resigned from his position causing the disintegration of the Janata Party. After a brief period of coalition rule, general elections were held in 1980.[14]
BJP (1980–present)
Formation and early days

The BJP was one of the new parties that emerged from the break-up of the Janata Party in 1980. Although distinct from the Jana Sangh, the bulk of its rank and file were identical to its predecessor, with Vajpayee being its first president. Historian Ramachandra Guha writes that despite the factional wars within the Janata government, its period in power saw a rise in support for the RSS, marked by a wave of communal violence in the early 1980s.[15] Despite this, the BJP initially moderated the Hindu nationalist stance of its predecessor to gain a wider appeal. This was unsuccessful, as it won only two Lok Sabha seats in the elections of 1984.[16] The assassination of Indira Gandhi a few months earlier also contributed to the low tally, as the Congress won a record number of seats.[17]
Influential figures
Syama Prasad Mookerjee, founder of the Bharatiya Jana Sangh
Deendayal Upadhyaya conceived "integral humanism", the philosophy of the BJP
Atal Bihari Vajpayee, the first BJP prime minister (1998–2004)
Babri Masjid demolition and the Hindutva movement
Further information: Hindutva and Demolition of the Babri Masjid

The failure of Vajpayee's moderate strategy led to a shift in the ideology of the party toward a policy of more hardline Hindu fundamentalism.[16][18] In 1984, Advani was appointed president of the party, and under him it became the political voice of the Ram Janmabhoomi movement. In the early 1980s, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) began a campaign for the construction of a temple dedicated to the Hindu deity Rama at the site of the Babri mosque in Ayodhya. The mosque had been constructed by the Mughal Emperor Babur in 1527. There is a dispute about whether a temple once stood there.[19] The agitation was on the basis of the belief that the site was the birthplace of Rama, and that a temple had been demolished to