Bharatiya Janata Party

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), literally meaning 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.

Related Topics:
India - Hindu - Free market - Economics - Conservative - Sangh Parivar - Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh

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In the collage world of national politics, it stands as an opposite pole to its historic opponent, the Indian National Congress, which leans towards the left. 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.

Related Topics:
Indian National Congress - Left - Hindutva

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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.

Related Topics:
Atal Bihari Vajpayee - Lal Krishna Advani - National Democratic Alliance

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