SEPTEMBER 2018 ISSUE NO. 258 Understanding the Rise of the Bharatiya Janata Party SATISH MISRA ABSTRACT In the last five years, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has undergone a massive transformation and is today the country's most formidable political force. The party won the 2014 general election with a convincing majority under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi who assumed power in May 2014. Today the BJP is in power in 20 states, either on its own or with its allies. This rise can be attributed to various factors, including the party leadership, organisational skills, and effective ground work. This brief analyses the journey of the BJP. INTRODUCTION In ve years since 2013, when Narendra Modi ideals of positive secularism and Gandhian was declared its prime ministerial candidate, socialism1 that it had adopted in its inception the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has managed in 1980, under the leadership of Atal Bihari to widen its geographical reach and strengthen Vajpayee who would later serve as prime its electoral and political supremacy across the minister. In the late 1980s and the 1990s, the country. Today, the BJP is the richest, largest, BJP went back to the Hindutva2 ideology of its and most dominant political party in India. precursor, the Bharatiya Jan Sangh (BJS).3 is expansion was made possible by the In the 1984 elections, the BJP won only foundations that were laid following the two Lok Sabha seats, provoking serious party's rst electoral defeat in the 1984 general introspection within the party and its polls. e party then decided to abandon the ideological parent, the Rashtriya Swyamsevak Observer Research Foundation (ORF) is a public policy think-tank that aims to influence formulation of policies for building a strong and prosperous India. ORF pursues these goals by providing informed and productive inputs, in-depth research, and stimulating discussions. The Foundation is supported in its mission by a cross-section of India’s leading public figures, academics, and business leaders. To know more about ORF scan this code ISBN: 978-93-88262-41-5 © 2018 Observer Research Foundation. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without permission in writing from ORF. Understanding the Rise of the Bharatiya Janata Party Sangh (RSS). e electoral failure was seen as lasted 13 months from 19 March 1998 to 17 proof that the moderate policy of Vajpayee April 1999 when it lost a no-condence would not work. Vajpayee was replaced as BJP motion by a single vote. ereafter, in president by Lal Krishna Advani, who September-October 1999, the BJP-led NDA promptly revived the BJS's hard-line Hindutva won 270 seats in the general elections, with the as the core ideology of the party.4 Advani used BJP once again getting 182 seats. Vajpayee the Hindutva rhetoric of pseudo secularism became prime minister for the third time and and Muslim appeasement to great eect in his government lasted the full term until the winning popular support among the Hindus, next general polls in 2004. aided by the soft-Hindutva5 politics the Indian National Congress played then.6 THE BJP'S RISE: A CONFLUENCE OF e next logical step was to join the RSS- FACTORS backed Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) which was leading the Ramjanmabhoomi movement. e BJP's rise to power can be attributed partly Soon, Advani became the face of a country- to Advani's organisational skills, as well as the wide campaign to build a Ramjanmabhoomi party's return to the Hindutva agenda while temple in Ayodhya where the Babri masjid keeping the liberal image of Vajpayee alive in once stood. e hardline Hindutva politics popular memory. What further helped the paid rich electoral dividends in the next party was the fact that the electorate wanted a general elections in 1989 when the BJP won 85 change from the long years of Congress rule. Lok Sabha seats. 7 In the 1991 general Slogans like Party with a dierence and an elections, it increased its strength to 120 and appeal to the electorate to give the BJP a chance its vote share went up to 20.1 percent from captured the condence of the electorate. A 11.4 percent in 1989 and 7.4 percent in 1984.8 little over six years of the Vajpayee government, In the 1996 general elections, the BJP's between 1998 and 2004, established the party seats in Lok Sabha went up to 161 and it staked as a credible alternative to the Congress. claim to form the government as the single However, the BJP-led NDA lost the next two largest party, which was accepted. us, the general elections due to various factors, making rst ever BJP-led government was formed way for a Congress-led coalition, the United under the leadership of Vajpayee but it lasted Progressive Alliance (UPA), to run the for only 13 days as it failed to garner the government until a series of scams, high support of other non-Congress, non-Left ination and unemployment and policy political parties to muster a majority. Vajpayee paralysis grounded it in the 2014 elections. is resigned, rather than face a vote of condence time, the BJP was led by Modi, a four-time chief in Parliament.9 minister of Gujarat and the party's prime In the next general polls in 1998, the BJP ministerial candidate. He managed to capitalise obtained 182 seats in the Lok Sabha and on the popular discontent against the UPA formed a coalition government called the government and won the party a majority, on National Democratic Alliance (NDA), which its own, in Lok Sabha. e last time a party had 2 ORF ISSUE BRIEF No. 258 • SEPTEMBER 2018 Understanding the Rise of the Bharatiya Janata Party won a majority on its own was when the Upon taking charge, Shah introduced many Congress won 404 seats in the 1984 elections changes in the party's administrative style and that followed the assassination of Indira structure. He modernised the party set-up and Gandhi. developed a system that rewards individuals Ever since Modi became prime minister on who deliver. He ushered in a corporate-style 26 May 2014, the BJP has been working like a system of vertical heads for programmes, in well-oiled electoral machine. It has won one contrast to the horizontal nature of the party state election after another and is dominating under the previous presidents.12 the national discourse like no other party has For Shah and the party, elections are done in recent memory. nothing less than war. His advice to party colleagues after taking charge was: Elections are Modi-Shah Partnership to be fought with clarity of mind and with the single objective of victory.13 He enjoys the total e rise of Modi has also marked the rise of support of Modi, stands rm in his decisions Amit Shah as BJP president. Rajnath Singh, and brooks no interference from any leader. By who headed the party in the run-up to the 2014 most accounts, he has a no-nonsense style of electoral victory, reportedly wanted to continue leadership, and keeps a tight schedule and long in the post and stay out of the government. But hours of work, inspiring his team to follow this was not acceptable to Modi as that could suit.14 Shah has also developed closer working have meant a dual power centre. Rajnath Singh relations with the RSS, as a result of which the had an excellent rapport with the RSS and that RSS leadership and functionaries are playing a is why Modi did not want him to continue. e bigger role in running the oganisation.15 name of party General Secretary J P Nadda, a politician from Himachal Pradesh, was brought RECENT ELECTORAL PERFORMANCE: A into contention and the RSS was agreeable to SNAPSHOT him. e move was made to juxtapose Shah against Nadda. Modi resolved it by inducting In 2013, the BJP was in power in ve states Singh and Nadda into his cabinet and Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, appointing Shah, his old and trusted colleague Chhattisgarh and Goa and was sharing power from Gujarat, as party president.10 with ally JD(U) in Bihar and Shiromani Akali is was an exception to the long-held Dal (SAD) in Punjab. Its political fortunes have convention that the prime minister and the changed dramatically since then. party president should come from dierent By May 2018, the BJP, either on its own states. Shah has galvanised the party, bringing strength or with its alliance partners, was ruling in a certain ruthlessness and unprecedented in 21 of the 31 states and union territories, administrative acumen in the way the expanding to the regions and states where it organisation is run. It is said that his party was never in power before. In 15 states, it has its colleagues are more in awe of him than own chief ministers and in the other six, it admiring.11 shares power with its allies (Bihar, Jammu and ORF ISSUE BRIEF No. 258 • SEPTEMBER 2018 3 Understanding the Rise of the Bharatiya Janata Party Table 1: BJP's Performance in 2014 General Elections States Total Seats Seats Won by BJP Poll % Andhra Pradesh 42 3 8.52 Arunachal Pradesh 2 1 46..62 Assam 14 7 36.86 Bihar 40 22 29.86 Goa 2 2 54.12 Gujarat 26 26 60.11 Haryana 10 7 34.84 Himachal Pradesh 4 4 53.85 Jammu and Kashmir 6 3 32.65 Karnataka 28 17 43.37 Kerala 20 0 10.45 Madhya Pradesh 29 27 54.76 Maharashtra 48 23 27.56 Manipur 2 0 11.98 Meghalaya 2 0 9.16 Mizoram 1 0 Did not contest Nagaland 1 0 Did not contest Odisha 21 1 21.88 Punjab 13 2 8.77 Rajasthan 25 25 55.61 Sikkim 1 0 2.39 Tamil Nadu 39 1 5.56 Tripura 2 0 5.77 Uttar Pradesh 80 71 42.63 West Bengal 42 2 17.02 Chhattisgarh 11 10 24.83 Jharkhand 14 12 40.71 Uttarakhand 5 5 55.93 Andman & Nikobar Islands 1 1 48.19 Chandigarh 1 1 42.49 Dadar & Nagar Haveli 1 1 49.77 Daman & Diu 1 1 54.66 NCT of Delhi 7 7 46.63 Lakshadweep 1 0 0.43 Puducherry 1 0 Did not contest Total 543 282 31.3 Source: Election Commission of India.