Bharatiya Janata party - Wikipedia Bharatiya Janata party `` BJP '' redirects here. For other uses, see BJP ( disambiguation ). Bharatiya Janata Party Abbreviation BJP President Amit Shah Parliamentary Chairperson Narendra Modi Lok Sabha leader Narendra Modi ( Prime Minister ) Rajya Sabha leader Arun Jaitley ( Finance Minister ) Founded 6 April 1980 ( 37 years ago ) ( 1980 - 04 - 06 ) Preceded by Bharatiya Jana Sangh ( 1951 − 1977 ) Janata Party ( 1977 − 1980 ) Headquarters 11 Ashoka Road, New Delhi - 110001 Newspaper Kamal Sandesh Youth wing Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha Women 's wing BJP Mahila Morcha Peasant 's wing BJP Kisan Morcha Minority wing BJP Minority Morcha Membership 110 million ( July 2015 ) Ideology Hindu nationalism Hindutva Conservatism National conservatism Social conservatism Economic nationalism Right - wing populism Gandhian socialism Integral humanism Political position Right - wing International affiliation International Democratic Union Asia Pacific Democrat Union Colours Saffron ECI Status National Party Alliance National Democratic Alliance ( NDA ) Seats in Lok Sabha 279 / 545 ( currently 541 members + 1 Speaker ) Seats in Rajya Sabha 57 / 245 ( currently 243 members ) Election symbol Website www.bjp.org Politics of India Political parties Elections The Bharatiya Janata Party ( pronounced ( bɦaːrət̪iːjə dʒənət̪aː paːrʈiː ) ( listen ) ; translation : Indian People 's Party ; abbr. BJP ) is one of the two major political parties in India, along with the Indian National Congress. As of 2016, it is the country 's largest political party in terms of representation in the national parliament and state assemblies, and it is the world 's largest party in terms of primary membership. The BJP is a right - wing party, 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 ; however, it lacked a majority in the lower house of Parliament, and its government lasted only 13 days. 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. Since that election, Modi has led the NDA government as Prime Minister and as of July 2017, the alliance governs 18 states. The official 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 prioritising 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 defeats 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 counterterrorism 3.4 Foreign policy 4 Organisation and structure 5 Presence in various states 5.1 Current BJP and NDA governments 6 References 6.1 Citations 6.2 Sources 7 Further reading 8 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 politics of the dominant Congress party. It was founded in collaboration with the Hindu nationalist volunteer organisation, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh ( RSS ), and was widely regarded as the political arm of the RSS. The Jana Sangh 's aims included the protection of India 's `` Hindu '' cultural identity, in addition to countering what it perceived to be the appeasement of Muslim people and the country of Pakistan by the Congress party and then - Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru. The RSS loaned several of its leading pracharaks, or full - time workers, to the Jana Sangh to get the new party off the ground. Prominent among these was Deendayal Upadhyaya, who was appointed General Secretary. The Jana Sangh won only three Lok Sabha seats in the first general elections in 1952. It maintained a minor presence in parliament until 1967. The Jana Sangh 's first major campaign, begun in early 1953, centred on a demand for the complete integration of Jammu and Kashmir into India. Mookerjee was arrested in May 1953 for violating orders from the state government restraining him from entering Kashmir. He died of a heart attack the following month, while still in jail. Mauli Chandra Sharma was elected to succeed Mookerjee ; however, he was forced out of power by the RSS activists within the party, and the leadership went instead to Upadhyaya. Upadhyay remained the General Secretary until 1967, and worked to build a committed grassroots organisation in the image of the RSS. The party minimised engagement with the public, focusing instead on building its network of propagandists. Upadhyaya also articulated the philosophy of integral humanism, which formed the official doctrine of the party. Younger leaders, such as Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Lal Krishna Advani also became involved with the leadership in this period, with Vajpayee succeeding Upadhyaya as president in 1968. The major themes on the party 's agenda during this period were legislating a uniform civil code, banning cow slaughter and abolishing the special status given to Jammu and Kashmir. 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. 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 being imprisoned along with other agitators across the country. In 1977, the emergency was withdrawn and general elections were held. The Jana Sangh 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. The Janata Party won a majority in 1977 and formed a government with Morarji Desai as Prime Minister. The former Jana Sangh contributed the largest tally to the Janata Party 's parliamentary contingent, with 93 seats or 31 % of its strength. Vajpayee, previously the leader of the Jana Sangh, was appointed the Minister of External Affairs. The national leadership of the former Jana Sangh consciously renounced its identity, and attempted to integrate with the political culture of the Janata Party, based on Gandhian and Hindu traditionalist principles. According to Christophe Jaffrelot, this proved to be an impossible assimilation. The state and local levels of the Jana Sangh remained relatively unchanged, retaining a strong association with the RSS, which did not sit well with the moderate centre - right constituents of the Party. Violence between Hindus and Muslims increased sharply during the years that the Janata Party formed the government, with former Jana Sangha members being implicated in the riots at Aligarh and Jamshedpur in 1978 -- 79. The other major constituents of the Janata Party demanded that the Jana Sangh should break from the RSS, which the Jana Sangh refused to do. Eventually, a fragment of the Janata Party broke off to form the Janata Party ( Secular ). The Morarji Desai government was reduced to a minority in the Parliament, forcing its resignation. Following a brief period of coalition rule, general elections were held in 1980, in which the Janata Party fared poorly, winning only 31 seats. In April 1980, shortly after the elections, the National Executive Council of the Janata Party banned its members from being ' dual members ' of party and the RSS. In response, the former Jana Sangh members left to create a new political party, known as the Bharatiya Janata Party. BJP ( 1980 -- present ) Influential figures Syama Prasad Mookerjee, founder of the Bharatiya Jana Sangh Atal Bihari Vajpayee, the first BJP prime minister ( 1998 -- 2004 ) Lal Krishna Advani, deputy Prime Minister under Vajpayee and one of the architects of the Ram Janmabhoomi movement Formation and early days Although the newly formed BJP was technically 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 the early 1980s were marked by a wave of violence between Hindus and Muslims. The BJP initially moderated the Hindu nationalist stance of its predecessor the Jana Sangh to gain a wider appeal, emphasising its links to the Janata Party and the ideology of Gandhian Socialism. This was unsuccessful, as it won only two Lok Sabha seats in the elections of 1984. The assassination of Indira Gandhi a few months earlier resulted in a wave of support for the Congress which won a record tally of 403 seats, contributing to the low number for the BJP. Babri masjid demolition and the Hindutva movement Further information : Ram Rath Yatra 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 nationalism. 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. 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 construct the mosque. The BJP threw its support behind this campaign, and made it a part of their election platform. It won 86 Lok Sabha seats in 1989, a tally which made its support crucial to the National Front government of V.P. Singh. In September 1990, Advani began a rath yatra ( chariot journey ) to Ayodhya in support of the Ram temple movement. According to Guha, the imagery employed by the yatra was `` religious, allusive, militant, masculine, and anti-Muslim '', and the speeches delivered by Advani during the yatra accused the government of appeasing Muslims and practising `` pseudo-secularism '' that obstructed the legitimate aspirations of Hindus. Advani defended the yatra, stating that it had been free of incident from Somnath to Ayodhya, and that the English media were to blame for the violence that followed. Advani was placed under preventive detention on the orders of the then Bihar chief minister Lalu Prasad Yadav. A large number of kar sevaks nonetheless converged on Ayodhya. On the orders of Uttar Pradesh chief minister Mulayam Singh Yadav, 150,000 of them were detained, yet half as many managed to reach Ayodhya and some attacked the mosque. Three days of fighting with the paramilitary forces ended with the deaths of several kar sevaks. Hindus were urged by VHP to `` take revenge '' for these deaths, resulting in riots against Muslims across Uttar Pradesh. The BJP withdrew its support from the V.P. Singh government, leading to fresh general elections. It once again increased its tally, to 120 seats, and won a majority in the Uttar Pradesh assembly. On 6 December 1992, the RSS and its affiliates organised a rally involving more than 100,000 VHP and BJP activists at the site of the mosque. Under circumstances that are not entirely clear, the rally developed into a frenzied attack that ended with the demolition of the mosque. Over the following weeks, waves of violence between Hindus and Muslims erupted all over the country, killing over 2,000 people. The government briefly banned the VHP, and many BJP leaders, including Advani were arrested for making inflammatory speeches provoking the demolition. Several historians have said that the demolition was the product of a conspiracy by the Sangh Parivar, and not a spontaneous act. A 2009 report, authored by Justice Manmohan Singh Liberhan, found that 68 people were responsible for the demolition, mostly leaders from the BJP. Among those named were Vajpayee, Advani, and Murli Manohar Joshi. The report also criticised Kalyan Singh, Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh during the demolition. He was accused of posting bureaucrats and police officers who would stay silent during the demolition. Anju Gupta, an Indian Police Service officer in charge of Advani 's security, appeared as a prominent witness before the commission. She said that Advani and Joshi made provocative speeches that were a major factor in the mob 's behaviour. In the parliamentary elections in 1996, the BJP capitalised on the communal polarisation that followed the demolition to win 161 Lok Sabha seats, making it the largest party in parliament. Vajpayee was sworn in as Prime Minister, but was unable to attain a majority in the Lok Sabha, forcing the government to resign after 13 days. NDA government ( 1998 -- 2004 ) Further information : National Democratic Alliance ( India ) A coalition of regional parties formed the government in 1996, but this grouping was short lived, and mid-term polls were held in 1998. The BJP contested the elections leading a coalition called the National Democratic Alliance ( NDA ), which contained its existing allies like the Samata Party, the Shiromani Akali Dal, the Shiv Sena in addition to the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam ( AIADMK ) and the Biju Janata Dal. Among these regional parties, the Shiv Sena was the only one which had an ideology similar to the BJP ; Amartya Sen, for example, called the coalition an `` ad hoc '' grouping. The NDA had a majority with outside support from the Telugu Desam Party ( TDP ) and Vajpayee returned as Prime Minister. However, the coalition ruptured in May 1999 when the leader of AIADMK, Jayalalitha, withdrew her support, and fresh elections were held again. On 13 October 1999, the NDA, without the AIADMK, won 303 seats in parliament and thus an outright majority. The BJP had its highest ever tally of 183. Vajpayee became Prime Minister for the third time ; Advani became Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister. This NDA government lasted its full term of five years. Its policy agenda included a more aggressive stance on defence and terror as well as neo-liberal economic policies. In 2001, Bangaru Laxman, then the BJP president, was filmed accepting a bribe of ₹ 100,000 ( equivalent to ₹ 280,000 or US $4,300 in 2016 ) to recommend the purchase of hand - held thermal imagers for the Indian Army to the Defence Ministry, in a sting operation by Tehelka journalists. The BJP was forced to make him resign and he was subsequently prosecuted. In April 2012, he was sentenced to four years in prison. 2002 Gujarat violence Main article : 2002 Gujarat violence On 27 February 2002, a train carrying Hindu pilgrims was burned outside the town of Godhra, killing 59 people. The incident was seen as an attack upon Hindus, and sparked off massive anti-Muslim violence across the state of Gujarat that lasted several weeks. The death toll estimated was as high as 2000, while 150,000 were displaced. Rape, mutilation, and torture were also widespread. The then - Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi and several high - ranking government officials were accused of initiating and condoning the violence, as were police officers who allegedly directed the rioters and gave them lists of Muslim - owned properties. In April 2009, a Special Investigation Team ( SIT ) was appointed by the Supreme Court to investigate and expedite the Gujarat riots cases. In 2012, Modi was cleared of complicity in the violence by the SIT and BJP MLA Maya Kodnani, who later held a cabinet portfolio in the Modi government, was convicted of having orchestrated one of the riots and sentenced to 28 years imprisonment. Scholars such as Paul Brass, Martha Nussbaum and Dipankar Gupta have said that there was a high level of state complicity in the incidents. General election defeats Vajpayee called for elections in early 2004, six months ahead of schedule. The NDA 's campaign was based on the slogan `` India Shining '', which sought to depict it as responsible for a rapid economic transformation of the country. However, the NDA unexpectedly suffered a heavy defeat, winning only a 186 seats in the Lok Sabha, compared to the 222 of the Congress and its allies. Manmohan Singh succeeded Vajpayee as Prime Minister as the head of the United Progressive Alliance. The NDA 's failure to reach out to rural Indians was provided as an explanation for its defeat, as was its divisive policy agenda. In May 2008, the BJP won the state elections in Karnataka. This was the first time that the party won assembly elections in any South Indian state. In the 2009 general elections, its strength in the Lok Sabha was reduced to 116 seats. It lost the next assembly election in 2013. General election victory, 2014 Narendra Modi became the Prime Minister of India, following the 2014 Indian general election. In the 2014 Indian general election, the BJP won 282 seats, leading the NDA to a tally of 336 seats in the 543 - seat Lok Sabha. Narendra Modi was sworn in as the 15th Prime Minister of India on 26 May 2014. The vote share of the BJP was 31 % of all votes cast, a low figure relative to the number of seats it won. This was the first instance since 1984 of a single party achieving an outright majority in the Indian Parliament and the first time that it achieved a majority in the Lok Sabha on its own strength. Support was concentrated in the Hindi - speaking belt in North - central India. The magnitude of the victory was not predicted by most opinion and exit polls. Political analysts have suggested several reasons for this victory, including the popularity of Modi, and the loss of support for the Congress due to the corruption scandals in its previous term. The BJP was also able to expand its traditionally upper - caste, upper - class support base and received significant support from middle - class and Dalit people, as well as among Other Backward Classes. Its support among Muslims remained low ; only 8 % of Muslim voters voted for the BJP. The BJP was also very successful at mobilising its supporters, and raising voter turnout among them. General election results The Bharatiya Janata Party was officially created in 1980, and the first general election it contested was in 1984, in which it won only two Lok Sabha seats. Following the election in 1996, the BJP became the largest party in the Lok Sabha for the first time, but the government it formed was short - lived. In the elections of 1998 and 1999, it remained the largest party, and headed the ruling coalition on both occasions. In the 2014 general election, it won an outright majority in parliament. From 1991 onwards, a BJP member has led the Opposition whenever the party was not in power. For the electoral results of the BJP 's predecessors, see the JP and BJS articles. Year General election Seats won Change in seats % of votes Vote swing Ref. Indian general election, 1984 8th Lok Sabha 7.74 -- Indian general election, 1989 9th Lok Sabha 85 83 11.36 3.62 Indian general election, 1991 10th Lok Sabha 120 35 20.11 8.75 Indian general election, 1996 11th Lok Sabha 161 41 20.29 0.18 Indian general election, 1998 12th Lok Sabha 182 21 25.59 5.30 Indian general election, 1999 13th Lok Sabha 182 0 23.75 1.84 Indian general election, 2004 14th Lok Sabha 138 44 22.16 1.69 Indian general election, 2009 15th Lok Sabha 116 22 18.80 3.36 Indian general election, 2014 16th Lok Sabha 282 166 31.34 12.54 Ideology and political positions Part of a series on Hindu politics Concepts Gandhism Gandhian socialism Hindu environmentalism Hindu nationalism Hindutva Hindu revivalism Integral humanism Litigation - Free Model Pseudo-secularism Shuddhi Swadeshi Ram Janmabhoomi Third Way Uniform Civil Code Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam Early figures Dattopant Thengadi Lala Lajpat Rai Sri Aurobindo Bal Gangadhar Tilak Bipin Chandra Pal Madan Mohan Malaviya Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi Vallabhbhai Patel Purushottam Das Tandon Vinayak Damodar Savarkar Keshava Baliram Hedgewar Madhav Sadashiv Golwalkar Political leaders Syama Prasad Mukherjee Deendayal Upadhyaya Nanaji Deshmukh Atal Bihari Vajpayee Lal Krishna Advani Subramanian Swamy Murli Manohar Joshi Bal Thackeray Narendra Modi Uma Bharti Yogi Adityanath Political parties Bharatiya Janata Party Shiv Sena Hindu Mahasabha Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party Rastriya Prajatantra Party Defunct parties Bharatiya Jana Sangh Akhil Bharatiya Ram Rajya Parishad Bharatiya Janshakti Party Janata Party Jammu Praja Parishad Organisations Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh Vishwa Hindu Parishad Sri Ram Sena Bajrang Dal Hindu Sena Independent authors Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay Swapan Dasgupta Dharampal Koenraad Elst David Frawley François Gautier Ram Gopal Sita Ram Goel Girilal Jain Meenakshi Jain Rama Jois Christophe Jaffrelot Bojil Kolarov K.S. Lal Rajiv Malhotra K.R. Malkani Harsh Narain Ramesh Nagaraj Rao Yvette Rosser Ram Swarup K.D. Sethna H.V. Sheshadri Arun Shourie Dattopant Thengadi Hinduism Part of a series on Conservatism Variants Alternative ( `` alt - right '' ) Cultural Fiscal Feminist Green Liberal Libertarian National Neo - New Right One - nation Paleo - Social Traditionalist Concepts Familism Free markets Private property Rule of law Small government Tradition People Vico Möser Burke Maistre Rivarol Bonald Gentz Karamzin Haller Chateaubriand Schlegel Novalis Coleridge Metternich Savigny Müller Calhoun Pius IX Alamán Portales Gerlach Frederick William IV Ranke Leo Newman Prinsterer Stahl Brownson Khomyakov Disraeli Kireyevsky Tocqueville Le Play d'Aurevilly Lincoln Cortés Balmes Hübner Veuillot Macdonald Saint - Bonnet Bismarck Katkov Dostoyevsky Danilevsky Aksakov Pobedonostsev Taine Leontiev Miramón La Tour du Pin Pius X Carp Kuyper Olazábal Romea Sardà y Salvany Alexander III Bloy Mallock Tikhomirov Menéndez y Pelayo Mella Stolypin Santayana Daudet Maurras Purishkevich Larumbe Chesterton W. Churchill Maeztu Van den Bruck Spann Bainville Spengler E. d'Ors Ludovici Ilyin Hulme Goerdeler Massis Schmitt Eliot R.A. Taft Dawson De Gaulle Preto Calvo Sotelo E.J. Jung Jünger Paul VI Lewis Strauss Voegelin Oakeshott M.J. Adler Lefebvre Latapie Barzun Oliveira Kuehnelt - Leddihn Abascal Weaver Reagan Powell Gómez Dávila Begin Nisbet A. d'Ors Viereck Tejada y Spínola Kirk Solzhenitsyn John Paul II Molnar Himmelfarb Fraga Iribarne Thatcher Buckley Bork Benedict XVI Huntington Scalia Howard Weyrich Scruton Guzmán W. Bush Carvalho Modi Hitchens Aznar George Organizations International Democrat Union ( IDU ) Democrat Union of Africa ( DUA ) Asia Pacific Democrat Union ( APDU ) Caribbean Democrat Union ( CDU ) Union of Latin American Parties ( UPLA ) European People 's Party EPP Alliance of Conservatives and Reformists in Europe ( ACRE ) List of conservative parties Religious conservatism Christian right Christian fundamentalism Jewish right Islamic fundamentalism Hindutva State Shinto Traditionalist Catholic National variants Australia Canada China ( PRC ) Colombia Germany Hong Kong India South Korea Serbia Turkey United Kingdom United States Related topics Agrarianism Aristocracy Capitalism Carlism Center - right Corporatism Conservative liberalism Conservative Revolution Counter-revolutionary Fascism Libertarian Republican Monarchism Neoliberalism New Right Old Right ( United States ) Radical centrism Radical right ( Europe ) Reactionary Reaganism Right - wing politics Small government Social hierarchy Thatcherism Toryism Conservatism portal Politics portal Social policies and Hindutva Further information : Hindutva The official philosophy of the BJP is `` Integral humanism, '' a philosophy first formulated by Deendayal Upadhyaya in 1965, who described it as advocating an `` indigenous economic model that puts the human being at center stage. '' It is committed to Hindutva, an ideology articulated by Indian independence activist Vinayak Damodar Savarkar. According to the party, Hindutva is cultural nationalism favouring Indian culture over westernisation, thus it extends to all Indians regardless of religion. However, scholars and political analysts have called their Hindutva ideology an attempt to redefine India and recast it as a Hindu country to the exclusion of other religions, making it a Hindu nationalist party in a general sense. The BJP has slightly moderated its stance after the NDA was formed in 1998, due to the presence of parties with a broader set of ideologies. The BJP 's Hindutva ideology has been reflected in many of its government policies. It supports the construction of the Ram temple at the site of the Babri Mosque. This issue was its major poll plank in the 1991 general elections. However, the demolition of the mosque during a BJP rally in 1992 resulted in a backlash against it, leading to a decline of the temple 's prominence in its agenda. The education policy of the NDA government reorganised the National Council of Educational Research and Training ( NCERT ) and tasked it with extensively revising the textbooks used in Indian schools. Various scholars have stated that this revision, especially in the case of history textbooks, was a covert attempt to `` saffronise '' Indian history. The NDA government introduced Vedic astrology as a subject in college curricula, despite opposition from several leading scientists. Taking a position against what it calls the `` pseudo-secularism '' of the Congress party, the BJP instead supports `` positive secularism ''. Vajpayee laid out the BJP 's interpretation of Mahatma Gandhi 's doctrine of Sarva Dharma Sambhava and contrasted it with what he called European secularism. He had said that Indian secularism attempted to see all religions with equal respect, while European secularism was independent of religion, thus making the former more `` positive ''. The BJP supports a uniform civil code, which would apply a common set of personal laws to every citizen regardless of their personal religion, replacing the existing laws which vary by religious community. According to historian Yogendra Malik, this ignores the differential procedures required to protect the cultural identity of the Muslim minority. The BJP favours the abrogation of Article 370 of the Indian constitution, which grants a greater degree of autonomy to the Jammu and Kashmir in recognition of the unusual circumstances surrounding its accession to the Indian union. The BJP opposes illegal migration into India from Bangladesh. The party states that this migration, mostly in the states of Assam and West Bengal, threatens the security, economy and stability of the country. Academics have pointed out that the BJP refers to Hindu migrants from Bangladesh as refugees, and reserves the term `` illegal '' for Muslim migrants. Academic Michael Gillan writes that this is an attempt to use an emotive issue to mobilise Hindu sentiment in a region where the party has not been historically successful. In 2013, the Supreme Court of India reinstated the controversial Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code, which, among other things, criminalises homosexuality. There was a popular outcry, although clerics, including Muslim religious leaders, stated that they supported the verdict. BJP president Rajnath Singh said that the party supported section 377, because it believed that homosexuality was unnatural, though its stand has softened after its victory in the 2014 general elections. Senior party members including Arun Jaitley and Harsh Vardhan ( Delhi politician ) openly support the rights of gender and sexual minorities in India. Vanathi Srinivasan BJP leader from Tamil Nadu launched the first book on LGBTQIA and Genderqueer in Tamil penned by Gopi Shankar Madurai. Economic policies The BJP 's economic policy has changed considerably since its founding. There is a significant range of economic ideologies within the party. In the 1980s, like the Jana Sangh, it reflected the thinking of the RSS and its affiliates. It supported swadeshi ( the promotion of indigenous industries and products ) and a protectionist export policy. However, it supported internal economic liberalisation, and opposed the state - driven industrialisation favoured by the Congress. During the 1996 elections, the BJP shifted its stance away from protectionism and towards globalisation ; its election manifesto recommended increasing foreign investment in priority sectors, while restricting it in others. When the party was in power in 1998, it shifted its policy even further in favour of globalisation. The tenure of the NDA saw an unprecedented influx of foreign companies in India. This was criticised by the left parties and the BJP 's affiliates ( the RSS and the Swadeshi Jagran Manch ). The communist parties said that the BJP was attempting to appease the World Bank and the United States government through its neoliberal policies. Similarly, the RSS stated that the BJP was not being true to its swadeshi ideology. The two NDA governments in the period 1998 - 2004 introduced significant deregulation and privatisation of government owned enterprises. It also introduced tariff - reducing measures. These reforms built off of the initial economic liberalisation introduced by the Congress government in the early 1990s. India 's GDP growth increased substantially during the tenure of the NDA. The 2004 campaign slogan `` India Shining '' was based on the party 's belief that the free market would bring prosperity to all sectors of society. After its unexpected defeat, commentators said that it was punished for neglecting the needs of the poor and focusing too much on its corporate allies. This shift in the economic policies of the BJP was also visible in state governments, especially in Gujarat, where the BJP held power for 16 years. Modi 's government, in power from 2002 to 2014, followed a strongly neo-liberal agenda, presented as a drive towards development. Its policies have included extensive privatisation of infrastructure and services, as well as a significant rollback of labour and environmental regulations. While this was praised by the business community, commentators criticised it as catering to the BJP 's upper class constituency instead of the poor. Defence and counterterrorism Compared to the Congress, the BJP takes a more aggressive and nationalistic position on defence policy and terrorism. The Vajpayee - led NDA government carried out nuclear weapons tests, and enacted the Prevention of Terrorism Act, which later came under heavy criticism. It also deployed troops to evict infiltrators from Kargil, and supported the United States ' War on Terror. Although previous Congress governments developed the capability for a nuclear weapons test, the Vajpayee government broke with India 's historical strategy of avoiding it and authorised Pokhran - II, a series of five nuclear tests in 1998. The tests came soon after Pakistan tested a medium - range ballistic missile. They were seen as an attempt to display India 's military prowess to the world, and a reflection of anti-Pakistan sentiment within the BJP. The Vajpayee government ordered the Indian armed forces to expel the Pakistani soldiers occupying Kashmir territory, later known as the Kargil War. Although the government was later criticised for the intelligence failures that did not detect Pakistani presence, it was successful in ousting them from the previously Indian - controlled territory. The Vajpayee administration also offered political support to the US War on Terror, in the hope of better addressing India 's issues with terrorism and insurgency in Kashmir. This led to closer defence ties with the US, including negotiations for the sale of weapons. After the terrorist attack on the Indian Parliament in December 2001, the NDA government passed the Prevention of Terrorism Act. The aim of the act was to improve the government 's ability to deal with terrorism. It initially failed to pass in the Rajya Sabha ; therefore, the NDA took the extraordinary step of convening a joint session of the Parliament, where the numerical superior Lok Sabha allowed the bill to pass. The act was subsequently used to prosecute hundreds of people accused of terrorism. However, it was criticised by opposition parties and scholars for being an infringement upon civil liberties, and the National Human Rights Commission stated that it had been used to target Muslims. It was later repealed by the Congress - led UPA government in 2004. Foreign policy The historical stance of the BJP towards foreign policy, like the Jana Sangh, was based on an aggressive Hindu nationalism combined with economic protectionism. The Jana Sangh was founded with the explicit aim of reversing the partition of India ; as a result, its official position was that the existence of Pakistan was illegitimate. This antagonism toward Pakistan remains a significant influence on the BJP 's ideology. The party and its affiliates have strongly opposed India 's long standing policy of nonalignment, and instead advocate closeness to the United States. The Vajpayee government 's foreign policy in many ways represented a radical shift from BJP orthodoxy, while maintaining some aspects of it. Its policy also represented a significant change from the Nehruvian idealism of previous governments, opting instead for realism. His party criticised him for adopting a much more moderate stance with Pakistan. In 1998, he made a landmark visit to Pakistan, and inaugurated the Delhi -- Lahore Bus service. Vajpayee signed the Lahore Declaration, which was an attempt to improve Indo - Pakistani relations that deteriorated after the 1998 nuclear tests. However, the presence of Pakistani soldiers and militants in the disputed Kashmir territory was discovered a few months later, causing the 1999 Kargil War. The war ended a couple of months later, with the expulsion of the infiltrators two months later, without any shift in the Line of Control that marked the de facto border between the two countries. Despite the war, Vajpayee continued to display a willingness to engage Pakistan in dialogue. This was not well received among the BJP cadre, who criticised the government for being `` weak ''. This faction of the BJP asserted itself at the post-Kargil Agra summit, preventing any significant deal from being reached. Organisation and structure The BJP is the world 's largest political party by primary membership, having 100 million registered members as of April 2015. The organisation of the BJP is strictly hierarchical, with the president being the highest authority in the party. Until 2012, the BJP constitution mandated that any qualified member could be national or state president for a single three - year term. This was amended to a maximum of two consecutive terms. Below the president is the national executive, which contains a variable number of senior leaders from across the country. It is the higher decision making body of the party. Its members are several vice-presidents, general - secretaries, treasurers and secretaries, who work directly with the president. An identical structure, with an executive committee led by a president, exists at the state, regional, district and local level. The BJP is a cadre - based party. It has close connections with other organisations with similar ideology, such as the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and the Vishwa Hindu Parishad. The cadres of these groups often supplement the BJP 's. Its lower members are largely derived from the RSS and its affiliates, loosely known as the Sangh Parivar : The Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad ( All India Student 's Union ), the students ' wing of the RSS. The Bharatiya Kisan Sangh ( Indian Farmer 's Union ), the farmers ' division. The Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh ( Indian Labourers Union ), the labour union associated with the RSS. The party has subsidiary organisations of its own, such as : The BJP Mahila Morcha ( BJP Women 's Front ), its women 's division. The Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha ( Indian People 's Youth Front ), its youth wing. The BJP Minority Morcha ( BJP Minority Front ), its minority division. Presence in various states Current ruling parties in the states and union territories of India BJP Coalition with BJP INC Coalition with INC Other parties As of July 2017, the BJP has Chief Ministers in thirteen states : Arunachal Pradesh Assam ( with Asom Gana Parishad and Bodoland People 's Front ) Chhattisgarh Goa ( with Goa Forward Party and Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party ) Gujarat Haryana Jharkhand ( with All Jharkhand Students Union ) Madhya Pradesh Maharashtra ( with Shiv Sena ) Manipur ( with Naga People 's Front, National People 's Party and Lok Janshakti Party ) Rajasthan Uttar Pradesh Uttarakhand In five other states, it shares power with other political parties. In all these states, the BJP is junior ally in the ruling alliance. The states are : Andhra Pradesh ( with Telugu Desam Party ) Bihar ( with Janata Dal ( United ), Lok Janshakti Party, Rashtriya Lok Samta Party and Hindustani Awam Morcha ) Jammu and Kashmir ( with Jammu and Kashmir Peoples Democratic Party and Jammu and Kashmir People 's Conference ) Nagaland ( with Naga People 's Front ) Sikkim ( with Sikkim Democratic Front ) In the past, the BJP has also been the sole party in power in the following states Delhi Himachal Pradesh Karnataka It has been a part of the government in the following states as a junior ally being a part of coalition governments in the past : Odisha ( with Biju Janata Dal ) Puducherry ( with All India N.R. Congress ) Punjab ( with Shiromani Akali Dal ) It has never been a part of the government in the following states : Kerala Meghalaya Mizoram Tamil Nadu Telangana ( However, BJP ruled the Telangana region as Andhra Pradesh with its ally Telugu Desam Party before the state was bifurcated. ) Tripura West Bengal It also has a regional political alliance in the North - East named the North - East Democratic Alliance. Current BJP and NDA governments See also : List of chief ministers from the Bharatiya Janata Party No State / UT NDA govt. Since Chief Minister CM 's Party CM Since Seats in Assembly Ref ( s ) Gujarat 28 February 1998 Vijay Rupani BJP 7 August 2016 123 / 182 Chhattisgarh 7 December 2003 Raman Singh BJP 7 December 2003 49 / 90 Madhya Pradesh 4 December 2003 Shivraj Singh Chouhan BJP 29 November 2005 166 / 230 Nagaland 8 March 2008 T.R. Zeliang NPF 19 July 2017 50 / 60 5 Goa 6 March 2012 Manohar Parrikar BJP 14 March 2017 22 / 40 6 Rajasthan 8 December 2013 Vasundhara Raje BJP 13 December 2013 160 / 200 7 Andhra Pradesh 16 May 2014 N. Chandrababu Naidu TDP 8 June 2014 108 / 175 8 Haryana 19 October 2014 Manohar Lal Khattar BJP 26 October 2014 47 / 90 9 Maharashtra 19 October 2014 Devendra Fadnavis BJP 31 October 2014 186 / 288 10 Jharkhand 23 December 2014 Raghubar Das BJP 28 December 2014 47 / 81 11 Jammu and Kashmir 23 December 2014 Mehbooba Mufti JKPDP 4 April 2016 55 / 87 12 Assam 24 May 2016 Sarbananda Sonowal BJP 24 May 2016 86 / 126 13 Sikkim 24 May 2016 Pawan Kumar Chamling SDF 12 December 1994 21 / 32 14 Arunachal Pradesh 16 September 2016 Pema Khandu BJP 16 September 2016 49 / 60 15 Manipur 15 March 2017 N. Biren Singh BJP 15 March 2017 32 / 60 16 Uttarakhand 18 March 2017 Trivendra Singh Rawat BJP 18 March 2017 57 / 70 17 Uttar Pradesh 19 March 2017 Yogi Adityanath BJP 19 March 2017 325 / 403 18 Bihar 27 July 2017 Nitish Kumar JDU 27 July 2017 129 / 243 References Citations ^ Jump up to : First Post 2015. Jump up ^ `` Is Modi 's India Safe for Muslims ? ''. Foreign Policy. 26 June 2015. Jump up ^ `` BJP stands by Hindutva ideals : Venkaiah Naidu ''. The Hindu. 23 March 2012. Jump up ^ `` Conservative party wins big in India election ''. Los Angeles Times. 16 May 2014. Jump up ^ Bonikowska, Monika ( 2014 ). `` India After The Elections ''. Centre for International Relations ( 6 ) : 2. Jump up ^ Taylor, McComas ( 2016 ). Seven Days of Nectar : Contemporary Oral Performance of the Bhagavatapurana. Oxford University Press. p. 197. Jump up ^ Kale, Sunila ( 2014 ). Electrifying India : Regional Political Economies of Development. Stanford University Press. p. 94. Jump up ^ Rao Jr., Parsa Venkateshwar ( 18 January 2016 ). `` Modi 's right - wing populism ''. Daily News and Analysis. Retrieved 29 June 2017. Jump up ^ Wodak, Ruth ( 2013 ). Right - Wing Populism in Europe : Politics and Discourse. A&C Black. p. 23. ^ Jump up to : Malik & Singh 1992, pp. 318 - 336. Jump up ^ BBC 2012. ^ Jump up to : Banerjee 2005, p. 3118. Jump up ^ Pillalamarri, Akhilesh. `` India 's Bharatiya Janata Party Joins Union of International Conservative Parties -- The Diplomat ''. The Diplomat. Jump up ^ `` International Democrat Union '' Asia Pacific Democrat Union ( APDU ) ``. International Democrat Union. Jump up ^ Election Commission 2013. Jump up ^ Lok Sabha Official Website. Jump up ^ Rajya Sabha Official Website. Jump up ^ http://164.100.47.5/NewMembers/partystrength.aspx Jump up ^ `` In Numbers : The Rise of BJP and decline of Congress ''. The Times of India. 19 May 2016. Retrieved 29 June 2017. Jump up ^ Malik & Singh 1992, p. 318. Jump up ^ Swain, Pratap Chandra ( 2001 ). Bharatiya Janata Party : Profile and Performance. APH Publishing. ISBN 9788176482578. Jump up ^ Noorani 1978, p. 216. Jump up ^ Jaffrelot 1996, pp. 116 - 119. ^ Jump up to : Guha 2007, p. 136. ^ Jump up to : Guha 2007, p. 250. Jump up ^ Jaffrelot 1996, pp. 122 - 126, 129 - 130. Jump up ^ Guha 2007, pp. 250, 352, 413. Jump up ^ Guha 2007, pp. 427 -- 428. ^ Jump up to : Guha 2007, pp. 538 -- 540. Jump up ^ Jaffrelot 1996, pp. 282 -- 283. Jump up ^ Jaffrelot 1996, pp. 292 -- 301, 312. Jump up ^ Jaffrelot 1996, pp. 301 - 312. Jump up ^ Guha 2007, p. 579. Jump up ^ Malik & Singh 1992, pp. 318 -- 336. Jump up ^ Pai 1996, pp. 1170 -- 1183. Jump up ^ Jha 2003. Jump up ^ Flint 2005, p. 165. Jump up ^ Guha 2007, pp. 582 -- 598. Jump up ^ Guha 2007, pp. 635. Jump up ^ Reddy 2008. Jump up ^ Guha 2007, pp. 636. ^ Jump up to : Guha 2007, pp. 633 - 659. Jump up ^ NDTV 2012. ^ Jump up to : Al Jazeera 2009. Jump up ^ Venkatesan 2005. ^ Jump up to : Guha 2007, p. 633. Jump up ^ Jones 2013. Jump up ^ Sen 2005, p. 254. Jump up ^ rediff.com 1998. Jump up ^ Outlook 2013. ^ Jump up to : Sen 2005, pp. 251 - 272. Jump up ^ Outlook 2012. Jump up ^ Kattakayam 2012. Jump up ^ India Today 2001. Jump up ^ Tehelka 2001. Jump up ^ Ghassem - Fachandi 2012, pp. 1 - 31. ^ Jump up to : Jaffrelot 2013, p. 16. Jump up ^ Harris 2012. Jump up ^ Krishnan 2012. Jump up ^ Hindustan Times 2014. Jump up ^ NDTV.com 2012. Jump up ^ Brass 2005, pp. 385 - 393. Jump up ^ Gupta 2011, p. 252. Jump up ^ Nussbaum 2008, p. 2. ^ Jump up to : Ramesh 2004. ^ Jump up to : The Hindu 2004. Jump up ^ Hindustan Times 2009. Jump up ^ Mathew 2014. Jump up ^ Deccan Chronicle 2014. Jump up ^ BBC & May 2014. ^ Jump up to : Sridharan 2014. Jump up ^ Times of India 2014. Jump up ^ Diwakar 2014. ^ Jump up to : Varshney 2014. Jump up ^ National Informatics Centre 2014. Jump up ^ Election Commission 1984. Jump up ^ Election Commission 1989. Jump up ^ Election Commission 1991. Jump up ^ Election Commission 1996. Jump up ^ Election Commission 1998. Jump up ^ Election Commission 1999. Jump up ^ Election Commission 2004. Jump up ^ Election Commission 2009. Jump up ^ Election Commission 2014. Jump up ^ Hansen 1999, p. 85. ^ Jump up to : Swain 2001, pp. 71 - 104. ^ Jump up to : Seshia 1998, pp. 1036 - 1050. ^ Jump up to : Gillan 2002, pp. 73 - 95. ^ Jump up to : Sen 2005, p. 63. Jump up ^ International Religious Freedom Report 2005. Jump up ^ The Hindu 2002. Jump up ^ Davies 2005. Jump up ^ BBC & January 2014. Jump up ^ Fitzgerald 2011, pp. 67 - 68. Jump up ^ Vajpayee 2007, pp. 318 - 342. Jump up ^ Ramachandran 2003. Jump up ^ Times of India 2013. Jump up ^ Buncombe 2014. Jump up ^ Ramaseshan 2013. Jump up ^ Business Standard 2014. Jump up ^ `` Meet the BJP leader who released a book on LGBT rights ''. The News Minute. 2014 - 07 - 14. Retrieved 2017 - 03 - 30. Jump up ^ `` It 's a great honour to be awarded for book on gender variants : Gopi Shankar - Times of India ''. Timesofindia.indiatimes.com. 2014 - 07 - 21. Retrieved 2017 - 03 - 30. Jump up ^ Ashok Row Kavi ( 2016 - 03 - 19 ). `` RSS flip - flop on homosexuality indicates gay men in India remain in exile, writes Ashok Row Kavi ''. Firstpost.com. Retrieved 2017 - 03 - 30. Jump up ^ `` BJP leader launches LGBT rights book in TN ''. Mumbai Mirror. Retrieved 23 May 2017. ^ Jump up to : Shulman 2000, pp. 365 - 390. Jump up ^ Tiwari 2012. Jump up ^ Guha 2007, pp. 710 - 720. Jump up ^ Sen 2005, p. 70. Jump up ^ Sheela Bhatt 2014. ^ Jump up to : Bobbio 2012, pp. 652 - 668. Jump up ^ Jaffrelot 2013, pp. 79 - 95. Jump up ^ Ghouri 2014. ^ Jump up to : Ganguly 1999, pp. 148 -- 177. ^ Jump up to : Krishnan 2004, pp. 1 - 37. ^ Jump up to : Kux 2002, pp. 93 - 106. ^ Jump up to : Qadir 2002, pp. 1 - 10. ^ Jump up to : Abbas 2004, p. 173. Jump up ^ Times of India 2002. ^ Jump up to : Chaulia 2002, pp. 215 - 234. ^ Jump up to : Harris 2005, pp. 7 - 27. Jump up ^ Lall 2006. Jump up ^ `` BJP becomes largest political party in the world '', The Times of India, 30 March 2015 Jump up ^ Times of India 2012. Jump up ^ World Statesman 2014. ^ Jump up to : Pisharoty, Sangeeta Barooah ( 25 May 2016 ). `` BJP Crafts North East Democratic Alliance to Make the Region ' Congress Mukt ' ''. ^ Jump up to : `` Amit Shah holds meeting with northeast CMs, forms alliance ''. 25 May 2016. ^ Jump up to : `` BJP Acts East With New Anti-Congress Bloc, Puts Himanta Biswa In Charge ''. Jump up ^ Gujarat Legislative Assembly 2015. Jump up ^ ECI Chhattisgarh 2013. Jump up ^ ECI Madhya Pradesh 2013. Jump up ^ ECI Nagaland 2013. Jump up ^ Khan, Nida ( 16 March 2017 ). `` Goa floor test highlights : BJP govt led by Parrikar wins with support of 22 MLAs, Congress ' Rane resigns ''. Hindustan Times. Retrieved 29 June 2017. Jump up ^ ECI Rajasthan 2013. Jump up ^ AP Legislature 2013. Jump up ^ ECI Haryana 2014. Jump up ^ ECI Maharashtra 2014. Jump up ^ Abhinav Bhatt 2014. Jump up ^ Ramakrishnan, Venkitesh ( 25 May 2016 ). `` Battles won and lost ''. Frontline. Retrieved 29 June 2017. Jump up ^ Kashyap, Samudra Gupta ( 31 December 2016 ). `` Arunachal gets full - fledged BJP govt as Pema Khandu, 32 others join saffron party ''. Indian Express. Jump up ^ `` With 32 MLAs ' support, BJP to elect Manipur leader today ''. Deccan Chronicle. 13 March 2017. Retrieved 29 June 2017. Jump up ^ `` BJP decimates Congress in Uttarakhand ''. The Hindu. 11 March 2017. Retrieved 29 June 2017. Jump up ^ Chowdury, Arghya Roy ( 11 March 2017 ). `` UP Elections 2017 Results - BJP wins three - fourth majority ; Mayawati cries foul about EVM, SP stunned ''. Daily News & Analysis. Retrieved 29 June 2017. Sources Abbas, Hassan ( 2004 ). Pakistan 's Drift Into Extremism : Allah, The Army, And America 's War On Terror. M.E. Sharpe. ISBN 0 - 7656 - 1497 - 9. `` Uproar over India mosque report : Inquiry into Babri mosque 's demolition in 1992 indicts opposition BJP leaders ''. Al Jazeera. 24 November 2009. Retrieved 8 July 2014. `` Andhra Pradesh Fourteenth Legislative Assembly ''. Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly. Retrieved 7 January 2015. Banerjee, Sumanta ( 16 -- 22 July 2005 ). `` Civilising the BJP ''. Economic & Political Weekly. 40 ( 29 ) : 3116 -- 3119. JSTOR 4416896. `` Narendra Modi sworn in as Indian prime minister ''. BBC News. 26 May 2014. Retrieved 26 May 2014. `` Indian Astrology vs Indian Science ''. BBC World Service. Retrieved 17 January 2014. Bhatt, Abhinav ( 28 December 2014 ). `` Raghubar Das Sworn - In as Jharkhand Chief Minister, PM Modi Misses Ceremony Due to Fog in Delhi ''. NDTV. Retrieved 2 June 2015. Bhatt, Sheela. `` What Anandiben Patel is really like ''. Rediff. Retrieved 27 June 2014. Bobbio, Tommaso ( 2012 ). `` Making Gujarat Vibrant : Hindutva, development and the rise of subnationalism in India ''. Third World Quarterly. 33 ( 4 ) : 653 -- 668. doi : 10.1080 / 01436597.2012. 657423. Brass, Paul R. ( 2005 ). The Production of Hindu - Muslim Violence in Contemporary India. University of Washington Press. pp. 385 -- 393. ISBN 978 - 0 - 295 - 98506 - 0. Buncombe, Andrew ( 11 July 2014 ). `` India 's gay community scrambling after court decision recriminalises homosexuality ''. The Independent. Retrieved 11 July 2014. `` It is the govt. 's responsibility to protect LGBT rights, says Harsh Vardhan ''. Business Standard. Mumbai, India. 17 July 2014. Retrieved 19 July 2014. Chaulia, Sreeram ( June 2002 ). `` BJP, India 's Foreign Policy and the `` Realist Alternative '' to the Nehruvian Tradition ``. International Politics. 39 : 215 -- 234. doi : 10.1057 / palgrave. ip. 8897388. Davies, Richard ( 2005 ). `` The Cultural Background of Hindutva ''. In Ayres & Oldenburg, Alyssa & Philip. India Briefing ; Takeoff at Last ?. Asia Society. `` Narendra Modi to be sworn in as 15th Prime Minister of India on May 26 ''. Deccan Chronicle. 20 May 2014. Retrieved 26 May 2014. Diwakar, Rekha ( 2014 ). `` The 16th general election in India, April - May 2014 ''. Electoral Studies : 1 -- 6. doi : 10.1016 / j. electstud. 2014.11. 005. `` General Election to Lok Sabha Trends and Results ''. Election Commission of India. Retrieved 18 June 2014. `` List of Political Parties and Election Symbols main Notification Dated 18.01. 2013 '' ( PDF ). India : Election Commission of India. 2013. Retrieved 9 May 2013. `` Statistical report on general elections, 1984 to the Eighth Lok Sabha '' ( PDF ). Election Commission of India. Archived from the original ( PDF ) on 18 July 2014. Retrieved 18 July 2014. `` Statistical report on general elections, 1989 to the Ninth Lok Sabha '' ( PDF ). Election Commission of India. Archived from the original ( PDF ) on 18 July 2014. Retrieved 18 July 2014. `` Statistical report on general elections, 1991 to the Tenth Lok Sabha '' ( PDF ). Election Commission of India. Archived from the original ( PDF ) on 18 July 2014. Retrieved 18 July 2014. `` Statistical report on general elections, 1996 to the Eleventh Lok Sabha '' ( PDF ). Election Commission of India. Retrieved 30 May 2014. `` Statistical report on general elections, 1998 to the Twelfth Lok Sabha '' ( PDF ). Election Commission of India. Archived from the original ( PDF ) on 18 July 2014. Retrieved 30 May 2014. `` Statistical report on general elections, 1999 to the Thirteenth Lok Sabha '' ( PDF ). Election Commission of India. Archived from the original ( PDF ) on 18 July 2014. Retrieved 30 May 2014. `` Statistical report on general elections, 2004 to the Fourteenth Lok Sabha '' ( PDF ). Election Commission of India. Retrieved 30 May 2014. `` Performance of National Parties '' ( PDF ). Election Commission of India. Retrieved 30 May 2014. `` Statistical Report on General Election, 2013 to the Legislative Assembly of Chhattisgarh '' ( PDF ). Election Commission of India. p. 8. Retrieved 7 January 2015. `` Statistical Report on General Election, 2013 to the Legislative Assembly of Madhya Pradesh '' ( PDF ). Election Commission of India. p. 12. Retrieved 7 January 2015. `` Statistical Report on General Election, 2013 to the Legislative Assembly of Nagaland '' ( PDF ). Election Commission of India. p. 7. Retrieved 7 January 2015. `` Statistical Report on General Election, 2013 to the Legislative Assembly of Rajasthan '' ( PDF ). Election Commission of India. p. 11. Retrieved 7 January 2015. `` Haryana ''. Election Commission of India. Archived from the original on 3 November 2014. Retrieved 7 January 2015. `` Maharashtra ''. Election Commission of India. Archived from the original on 3 November 2014. Retrieved 7 January 2015. Fitzgerald, Timothy ( 2011 ). Religion and Politics in International Relations : The Modern Myth. A&C Black. ISBN 9781441142900. Flint, Colin ( 2005 ). The geography of war and peace. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978 - 0 - 19 - 516208 - 0. Ganguly, Sumit ( Spring 1999 ). `` India 's Pathway to Pokhran II : The Prospects and Sources of New Delhi 's Nuclear Weapons Program ''. International Security. 23 ( 4 ) : 148 -- 177. doi : 10.1162 / isec. 23.4. 148. JSTOR 2539297. Ghassem - Fachandi, Parvis ( 2012 ). Pogrom in Gujarat : Hindu Nationalism and Anti-Muslim Violence in India. Princeton University Press. ISBN 0691151776. Ghouri, Nadene ( 2014 ). `` The great carbon credit con : Why are we paying the Third World to poison its environment ? ''. Daily Mail. London. Retrieved 26 January 2014. Gillan, Michael ( March 2002 ). `` Refugees or Infiltrators ? The Bharatiya Janata Party and `` Illegal '' Migration from Bangladesh ``. Asian Studies Review. 26 ( 1 ) : 73 -- 95. doi : 10.1080 / 10357820208713331. Guha, Ramachandra ( 2007 ). India after Gandhi : the history of the world 's largest democracy ( 1st ed. ). India : Picador. ISBN 978 - 0 - 330 - 39610 - 3. Gupta, Dipankar ( 2011 ). Justice before Reconciliation : Negotiating a ' New Normal ' in Post-riot Mumbai and Ahmedabad. Routledge. p. 34. ISBN 978 - 0 - 415 - 61254 - 8. Halarnkar, Samar ( 13 June 2012 ). `` Narendra Modi makes his move ''. BBC News. The right - wing Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party ( BJP ), India 's primary opposition party Hansen, Thomas ( 1999 ). The saffron wave : democracy and Hindu nationalism in modern India. Princeton, NJ : Princeton University Press. ISBN 0 - 691 - 00671 - 7. Harris, Gardiner ( 2 July 2012 ). `` Justice and ' a Ray of Hope ' After 2002 India Riots ''. The New York Times. Retrieved 25 February 2014. Harris, Jerry ( 2005 ). `` Emerging Third World powers : China, India and Brazil ''. Race & Class. 46 ( 7 ). doi : 10.1177 / 0306396805050014. `` The Meaning of Verdict 2004 ''. The Hindu. Chennai, India. 14 May 2004. Retrieved 10 December 2013. `` Inventing History ''. The Hindu. 14 October 2002. `` Modi did not incite riots : SIT ''. Hindustan Times. Retrieved 22 January 2014. `` 2009 Lok Sabha election : Final results tally ''. Hindustan Times. 17 May 2009. Retrieved 27 June 2014. `` Tehelka sting : How Bangaru Laxman fell for the trap ''. India Today. Retrieved 9 May 2012. Jaffrelot, Christophe ( 1996 ). The Hindu Nationalist Movement and Indian Politics. C. Hurst & Co. Publishers. ISBN 978 - 1850653011. Jaffrelot, Christophe ( June 2013 ). `` Gujarat Elections : The Sub-Text of Modi 's ' Hattrick ' -- High Tech Populism and the ' Neo-middle Class ''. Studies in Indian Politics. 1 : 2 -- 27. doi : 10.1177 / 2321023013482789. Jha, Nilanjana Bhaduri ( 21 February 2003 ). `` Survey shows temple remains in Ayodhya : VHP ''. The Times of India. Retrieved 11 July 2014. Keith Jones ( 9 October 1999 ). `` Hindu chauvinist - led coalition to form India 's next government ''. World Socialist Web Site. Retrieved 27 September 2013. Kattakayam, Jiby ( 27 April 2012 ). `` Bangaru Laxman convicted of taking bribe ''. The Hindu. Chennai, India. Retrieved 9 May 2012. Krishnan, Jayanth ( 1 January 2004 ). `` India 's `` Patriot Act '' : POTA and the Impact on Civil Liberties in the World 's Largest Democracy ``. Faculty Publication, Indiana Law University. Retrieved 27 June 2014. Krishnan, Murali ; Shamil Shams ( 11 March 2012 ). `` Modi 's clearance in the Gujarat riots case angers Indian Muslims ''. Deutsche Welle. Kux, Dennis ( May -- June 2002 ). `` India 's Fine Balance ''. Foreign Affairs. 81 ( 3 ) : 93 -- 106. doi : 10.2307 / 20033165. JSTOR 20033165. Lall, Marie ( December 2006 ). `` Indo - Myanmar Relations in the Era of Pipeline Diplomacy ''. Contemporary Southeast Asia. 28 ( 3 ). `` Lok Sabha Official Website ''. 2014 - 09 - 09. Retrieved 2014 - 09 - 09. Malik, Yogendra K. ; Singh, V.B. ( April 1992 ). `` Bharatiya Janata Party : An Alternative to the Congress ( I ) ? ''. Asian Survey. 32 ( 4 ) : 318 -- 336. doi : 10.2307 / 2645149. JSTOR 2645149. Mathew, Liz ( 16 May 2014 ). `` Narendra Modi makes election history as BJP gets majority on its own ''. Live Mint. Retrieved 26 May 2014. Naqvi, Saba ; Raman, Anuradha ( 1 April 2013 ). `` Their Dark Glasses ''. Outlook. `` Lok Sabha at a glance ''. National Informatics Centre. Retrieved 17 July 2014. `` Report : Sequence of events on December 6 ''. NDTV. Retrieved 20 June 2012. `` Naroda Patiya riots : Former minister Maya Kodnani gets 28 years in jail ''. NDTV.com. Retrieved 17 November 2012. Noorani, A.G. ( March -- April 1978 ). `` Foreign Policy of the Janata Party Government ''. Asian Affairs. 5 ( 4 ) : 216 -- 228. doi : 10.1080 / 00927678.1978. 10554044. JSTOR 30171643. Nussbaum, Martha Craven ( 2008 ). The Clash Within : Democracy, Religious Violence, and India 's Future. Harvard University Press. p. 2. ISBN 978 - 0 - 674 - 03059 - 6. `` Tehelka Sting : After Eleven Years, It Stings To Say This ''. Outlook. Retrieved 9 May 2012. Pai, Sudha ( December 1996 ). `` Transformation of the Indian Party System : The 1996 Lok Sabha Elections ''. Asian Survey. 36 ( 12 ) : 1170 -- 1183. doi : 10.1525 / as. 1996.36. 12.01 p01884. JSTOR 2645573. Qadir, Shaukat ( April 2002 ). `` An Analysis of the Kargil Conflict 1999 '' ( PDF ). RUSI Journal. Retrieved 2009 - 05 - 20. `` Rajya Sabha Official Website ''. 2014 - 09 - 09. Retrieved 2014 - 09 - 09. Ramachandran, Sujata ( 15 February 2003 ). `` ' Operation Pushback ' Sangh Parivar, State, Slums, and Surreptitious Bangladeshis in New Delhi ''. Economic & Political Weekly. 38 ( 7 ) : 637 -- 647. JSTOR 4413218. Ramaseshan, Radhika ( 14 December 2013 ). `` BJP comes out, vows to oppose homosexuality ''. The Telegraph. Calcutta, India. Retrieved 16 December 2013. Ramesh, Randeep ( 14 May 2004 ). `` News World news Shock defeat for India 's Hindu nationalists ''. The Guardian. Retrieved 10 December 2013. `` TDP helps Vajpayee wins confidence vote ''. Rediff.com. Retrieved 4 January 2011. `` Thirteenth Gujarat Legislative Assembly ''. Government of Gujarat. Retrieved 29 May 2015. Sen, Amartya ( 2005 ). India and the world ( 1. publ. ed. ). Allen Lane : 2005. ISBN 978 - 0 - 7139 - 9687 - 6. Reddy, Sheila ( 14 April 2008 ). `` Interview `` I Was Prepared To Take The Risk '' ``. Outlook India. Seshia, Shaila ( November 1998 ). `` Divide and Rule in Indian Party Politics : The Rise of the Bharatiya Janata Party ''. Asian Survey. 38 ( 11 ) : 1036 -- 1050. doi : 10.1525 / as. 1998.38. 11.01 p0406o. Shulman, Stephen ( September 2000 ). `` Nationalist Sources of International Economic Integration ''. International Studies Quarterly. 44 ( 3 ) : 365 -- 390. doi : 10.1111 / 0020 - 8833.00164. Sridharan, Eswaran ( October 2014 ). `` India 's Watershed Vote '' ( PDF ). Journal of Democracy. 25 ( 4 ). Swain, Pratap Chandra ( 2001 ). Bharatiya Janata Party : Profile and Performance. India : APH publishing. pp. 71 -- 104. ISBN 978 - 81 - 7648 - 257 - 8. Retrieved 5 July 2014. `` Bangaru Laxman convicted for taking bribe ''. Tehelka. Retrieved 9 May 2012. `` Election results 2014 : India places its faith in Moditva -- The Times of India ''. Timesofindia.indiatimes.com. 2014 - 05 - 17. Retrieved 2014 - 08 - 11. `` SP condemns Vaiko 's arrest under Pota ''. The Times Of India. 13 July 2002. `` BJP amends constitution allowing Gadkari to get a second term ''. Times of India. 28 September 2012. Retrieved 4 April 2014. `` Stand with RSS, BJP ''. The Times of India. 20 December 2013. Retrieved 13 March 2014. Chatterjee, Mohua ( 13 July 2015 ). `` BJP enrolls 11 crore members, launches ' Mahasampark Abhiyan ' ''. First Post. Tiwari, Aviral Kumar ( March 2012 ). `` An Error - Correction Analysis of India - Us Trade Flows ''. Journal of Economic Development. 37 ( 1 ). `` India : International Religious Freedom Report ''. US Department of state. Retrieved 11 August 2014. Vajpayee, Atal Bihari ( 2007 ). Jaffrelot, Christophe, ed. Hindu Nationalism : A Reader. Delhi : Permanent Black. ISBN 9780691130989. Varshney, Ashutosh ( October 2014 ). `` Hindu Nationalism in Power ? ''. Journal of Democracy. 25 ( 4 ). Venkatesan, V. ( 16 -- 29 July 2005 ). `` In the dock, again ''. Frontline. 22 ( 15 ). Retrieved 28 June 2014. `` States of India since 1947 ''. worldstatesmen.org. Retrieved 17 July 2014. Further reading Main article : Bibliography of the Sangh Parivar Ahuja, Gurdas M. ( 2004 ). Bharatiya Janata Party and Resurgent India. Ram Company. Andersen, Walter K. ; Damle, Shridhar D. ( 1987 ) ( Originally published by Westview Press ). The Brotherhood in Saffron : The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and Hindu Revivalism. Delhi : Vistaar Publications. Baxter, Craig ( 1971 ) ( first published by University of Pennsylvania Press 1969 ). The Jana Sangh -- A Biography of an Indian Political Party. Oxford University Press, Bombay. ISBN 0812275837. Graham, B.D. ( 1990 ). Hindu Nationalism and Indian Politics : The Origins and Development of the Bharatiya Jana Sangh. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0 - 521 - 38348X. Malik, Yogendra K. ; Singh, V.B. ( 1994 ). Hindu Nationalists in India : The Rise of the Bharatiya Janata Party. Boulder, Colorado : Westview Press. ISBN 0 - 8133 - 8810 - 4. Jaffrelot, Christophe ( 1996 ). The Hindu Nationalist Movement and Indian Politics. C. Hurst & Co. Publishers. ISBN 978 - 1850653011. Mishra, Madhusudan ( 1997 ). Bharatiya Janata Party and India 's Foreign Policy. New Delhi : Uppal Pub. House. ISBN 81 - 85565 - 79 - 1. Sharma, C.P. Thakur, Devendra P. ( 1999 ). India under Atal Behari Vajpayee : The BJP Era. New Delhi : UBS Publishers ' Distributors. ISBN 978 - 81 - 7476 - 250 - 4. Bhambhri, C.P. ( 2001 ). Bharatiya Janata Party : Periphery to Centre. Delhi : Shipra. ISBN 81 - 7541 - 078 - 7. Jaffrelot, Christophe ( July 2003 ). `` Communal Riots in Gujarat : The State at Risk ? '' ( PDF ). Heidelberg Papers in South Asian and Comparative Politics : 16. Retrieved 5 November 2013. Nag, Kingshuk ( 2014 ). The Saffron Tide : The Rise of the BJP. Rupa Publications. ASIN B00NSIB0Q4. ISBN 978 - 8129134295. Stein, Burton ( 2010 ). A history of India ( edited by David Arnold. 2nd ed. ). Chichester, UK : Wiley - Blackwell. ISBN 978 - 1 - 4051 - 9509 - 6. Rao, Ramesh ( 2001 ). Coalition conundrum : the BJP 's trials, tribulations, and triumphs. Har Anand. ISBN 9788124108093. External links Wikimedia Commons has media related to : Bharatiya Janata Party ( category ) Official website Conservatism portal India portal Politics portal Bharatiya Janata Party Party Presidents Atal Bihari Vajpayee ( 1980 -- 86 ) Lal Krishna Advani ( 1986 -- 91 ) Murli Manohar Joshi ( 1991 -- 93 ) Lal Krishna Advani ( 1993 -- 98 ) Kushabhau Thakre ( 1998 -- 2000 ) Bangaru Laxman ( 2000 -- 01 ) Jana Krishnamurthi ( 2001 -- 02 ) Venkaiah Naidu ( 2002 -- 04 ) Lal Krishna Advani ( 2004 -- 06 ) Rajnath Singh ( 2006 -- 09 ) Nitin Gadkari ( 2009 -- 13 ) Rajnath Singh ( 2013 -- 14 ) Amit Shah ( 2014 -- present ) Current vice presidents Avinash Rai Khanna Prabhat Jha Dr. Vinay Sahasrabuddhe Renu Devi Om Prakash Mathur Shyam Jaju Other prominent leaders Sushma Swaraj Arun Jaitley Bhairon Singh Shekhawat Sunderlal Patwa Ravi Shankar Prasad Pramod Mahajan Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi Sushil Kumar Modi Himanta Biswa Sarma Ram Naik Prime ministers Atal Bihari Vajpayee Narendra Modi Current chief ministers Vijay Rupani Vasundhara Raje Shivraj Singh Chouhan Raman Singh Manohar Parrikar Manohar Lal Khattar Devendra Fadnavis Raghubar Das Sarbananda Sonowal Pema Khandu N. Biren Singh Trivendra Singh Rawat Yogi Adityanath Spokespersons Syed Shahnawaz Hussain Dr. Sudhanshu Trivedi M.J. Akbar Meenakshi Lekhi Dr. Bizay Sonkar Shastri Siddharth Nath Singh Nalin Kohli Sambit Patra Anil Baluni G.V.L. Narsimha Rao Gopal Krishna Agarwal Siddharth Bhattacharya Gaurav Bhatia Shaina NC Nupur Sharma General secretaries P. Muralidhar Rao Ram Madhav Saroj Pandey Bhupender Yadav Kailash Vijayvargiya Anil Jain Dr. Arun Singh Ram Lal Political wings Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha BJP Mahila Morcha BJP SC Morcha BJP ST Morcha BJP OBC Morcha BJP Minority Morcha BJP Kisan Morcha Related organisations Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh Bharatiya Jana Sangh Janata Party Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh Bharatiya Kisan Sangh Others Hindutva Integral humanism Sangh Parivar ( RSS Family of Organisations ) Organisations Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh Bharatiya Janata Party Swadeshi Jagaran Manch Bharatiya Kisan Sangh Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh Vishwa Hindu Parishad Muslim Rashtriya Manch Rashtriya Sikh Sangat Vanavasi Kalyan Ashram Hindu Vivek Kendra Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad Bajrang Dal Durga Vahini Hindu Munnani Seva Bharati Vidya Bharati Balagokulam Vivekananda Kendra Rashtra Sevika Samiti Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh Ram Janmabhoomi Nyas Ekal Vidyalaya Sarsanghchalak Keshav Baliram Hedgewar ( 1925 -- 1930 and 1931 -- 1940 ) Laxman Vasudev Paranjpe ( 1930 -- 1931 ) Madhav Sadashiv Golwalkar ( 1940 -- 1973 ) Madhukar Dattatraya Deoras ( 1973 -- 1994 ) Rajendra Singh ( 1994 -- 2000 ) K.S. Sudarshan ( 2000 -- 2009 ) Mohan Bhagwat ( 2009 -- present ) Other Major figures Vinayak Damodar Savarkar Balkrishna Shivram Moonje Syama Prasad Mukherjee Deendayal Upadhyaya Prabhakar Balwant Dani Babasaheb Apte S.S. Apte Moropant Pingley Madhukar Rao Bhagwat Eknath Ranade H.V. Sheshadri Dattopant Thengadi Nanaji Deshmukh Atal Bihari Vajpayee Lal Krishna Advani Murli Manohar Joshi Jana Krishnamurthi Kushabhau Thakre Narendra Modi Arun Jaitley K.N. Govindacharya Rama Jois Bal Thackeray Swami Karpatri Chinmayananda Saraswati Ashok Singhal Giriraj Kishore Praveen Togadia Ram Madhav Ramchandra Das Paramhans Independent authors Sita Ram Goel Ram Swarup Girilal Jain Dharampal Ram Gopal Balraj Madhok Raj Krishna Harsh Narain Swaraj Prakash Gupta Ramesh Nagaraj Rao Malati Shendge Arun Shouri Abhas Chatterjee K.S. Lal N.S. Rajaram David Frawley Koenraad Elst François Gautier Christophe Jaffrelot K.D. Sethna Subhash Kak Dilip Kumar Chakrabarti D.P. Agrawal Rajiv Dixit Philosophy Hindutva Hindu nationalism Gandhian socialism Integral humanism Akhand Bharat Uniform civil code Indigenous Aryans Hindu nationalism Hindutva Akhil Bharatiya Ram Rajya Parishad Bengali Hindu Homeland Movement Bangabhumi Hindu Rashtra Panun Kashmir Banga Sena Topics Persecution of Hindus Shuddhi Ram Janmabhoomi Shah Bano case Ghar Wapsi National Democratic Alliance Members National Party Bharatiya Janata Party State Parties All India N.R. Congress All Jharkhand Students Union Asom Gana Parishad Bodoland People 's Front Gorkha Janmukti Morcha Janata Dal ( United ) Lok Janshakti Party Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party Naga People 's Front National People 's Party Pattali Makkal Katchi People 's Party of Arunachal Rashtriya Lok Samta Party Shiromani Akali Dal Shiv Sena Sikkim Democratic Front Telugu Desam Party United Democratic Party Registered Unrecognised Parties Apna Dal ( Sonelal ) Bahujan Republican Ekta Manch Bharath Dharma Jana Sena Goa Vikas Party Hill State People 's Democratic Party Hindustani Awam Morcha Indhiya Jananayaga Katchi Indigenous People 's Front of Tripura Jana Sena Party Janadhipathya Rashtriya Sabha Janathipathiya Samrakshana Samithy Kamtapur People 's Party Kerala Congress ( Nationalist ) Kerala Congress ( Thomas ) Kerala Vikas Congress Kongunadu Makkal Desia Katchi Manipur Democratic Peoples Front Manipur Peoples Party Mizo National Front New Justice Party Praja Socialist Party Pravasi Nivasi Party Puthiya Needhi Katchi Rashtriya Samaj Paksha Republican Party of India ( Athavale ) Revolutionary Socialist Party ( Bolshevik ) Swabhimani Paksha Member fronts North - East Regional Political Front United Democratic Front North - East Democratic Alliance Member Organisation ( s ) Shiv Sangram Leaders Atal Bihari Vajpayee Lal Krishna Advani Murli Manohar Joshi Narendra Modi Amit Shah Rajnath Singh Arun Jaitley Sushma Swaraj Manohar Parrikar Uddhav Thackeray Prakash Singh Badal Shivraj Singh Chouhan Raman Singh N. Chandrababu Naidu Nitish Kumar Mehbooba Mufti Bimal Gurung N. Rangaswamy Ramdas Athawale Pawan Kumar Chamling Pema Khandu Political parties in India Current national coalitions National Democratic Alliance United Progressive Alliance Third Front Janata Parivar Former national coalitions Janata Party National Front United Front Recognised national parties All India Trinamool Congress Bahujan Samaj Party Bharatiya Janata Party Communist Party of India Communist Party of India ( Marxist ) Indian National Congress Nationalist Congress Party Recognised state parties Aam Aadmi Party All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam All India Forward Bloc All India Majlis - e-Ittehadul Muslimeen All India United Democratic Front Asom Gana Parishad Biju Janata Dal Bodoland People 's Front Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam Indian National Lok Dal Jammu & Kashmir National Conference Jammu & Kashmir National Panthers Party Jammu and Kashmir Peoples Democratic Party Janata Dal ( Secular ) Janata Dal ( United ) Jharkhand Mukti Morcha Jharkhand Vikas Morcha ( Prajatantrik ) Kerala Congress Kerala Congress ( Mani ) Lok Jan Shakti Party Maharashtra Navnirman Sena Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party Manipur Peoples Party Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam Meghalaya Democratic Party Mizo National Front Mizoram People 's Conference Muslim League Kerala State Committee Naga People 's Front National People 's Party N.R. Congress Pattali Makkal Katchi People 's Party of Punjab Rashtriya Janata Dal Rashtriya Lok Dal Rashtriya Lok Samta Party Revolutionary Socialist Party Samajwadi Party Shiromani Akali Dal Shiv Sena Sikkim Democratic Front Telangana Rashtra Samithi Telugu Desam Party United Democratic Party Uttarakhand Kranti Dal YSR Congress Party Mahan Dal Zoram Nationalist Party Other parties in parliament Apna Dal ( Sonelal ) Bahujan Vikas Aaghadi Jan Adhikar Party Socialist Unity Centre of India ( Communist ) Swabhimani Paksha Swatantra Bharat Paksh Unrecognised parties or parties with limited presence Apna Dal All India Muslim Forum Arunachal Congress Bharipa Bahujan Mahasangh Bharatiya Awam Party Chhattisgarh Janata Congress Communist Marxist Party Communist Party of India ( Marxist -- Leninist ) Liberation Democratic Socialist Party ( Prabodh Chandra ) Gorkha Janmukti Morcha Hindu Sena Hindustani Awam Morcha Indian Federal Democratic Party Indian National Congress ( Socialist ) Indian National League Indigenous Nationalist Party of Twipra Jana Sena Party Janathipathiya Samrakshana Samithy Jharkhand Party Karnataka Janata Paksha Kerala Congress ( Balakrishna Pillai ) Kerala Congress ( Jacob ) Kerala Congress ( Secular ) Kerala People 's Party Kongunadu Munnetra Peravai Lok Satta Party Naam Tamilar Katchi People 's Guardian Peoples Republican Party Peoples ' Resurgence and Justice Alliance Perunthalaivar Makkal Katchi Pragatisheel Indira Congress Professionals Party of India Puthiya Tamilagam Puducherry Munnetra Congress Republican Party of India ( Gavai ) Republican Party of India ( Athvale ) Republican Party of India ( Kamble ) Republican Party of India ( Democratic ) Republican Party of India ( Khobragade ) Revolutionary Socialist Party ( Baby John ) Revolutionary Socialist Party ( Bolshevik ) Samajwadi Janata Party ( Rashtriya ) Sikkim Krantikari Morcha Tamizhaga Vazhvurimai Katchi United Goans Democratic Party Welfare Party of India Former political parties Janata Dal Justice Party Praja Socialist Party Swatantra Party Portal : Politics List of political parties Politics of India India topics History Overviews Timeline Years Astronomy Economics Linguistics Maritime Mathematics Metallurgy Military Postal Science and technology Pre-colonial Stone Age Indus Valley Civilization Vedic period Mahajanapadas Mauryas Middle kingdoms Hoysala Chola Pala Kakatiya Delhi Sultanate Vijayanagara Mughals Marathas European trade Colonial Princely East India Company Plassey 1857 rebellion British Raj Railways Economy Army Zamindari Bengali renaissance Political reforms Princely states Partition of Bengal Independence movement 1943 famine World War II Partition Republic Integration Non-Aligned Movement Five - Year Plans Sino - Indian War Indo - Pakistani wars Green Revolution White Revolution Naxal Insurgency Smiling Buddha Space programme The Emergency Indian Peace Keeping Force ( IPKF ) Economic liberalisation Pokhran - II Geography Environment Biosphere reserves Climate Climatic regions Earthquakes Ecoregions Environmental issues Fauna Flora Geology National parks Protected areas Wildlife sanctuaries Landforms Beaches Desert Extreme points Glaciers Islands Lakes Mountains Plains Indo - Gangetic Eastern coastal Western coastal Rivers Valleys Volcanoes Waterfalls Regions East North Northeast South West Subdivisions Autonomous administrative divisions Cities Districts Municipalities States and territories Politics Government Agencies Energy policy Foreign relations Parliament President Vice President Prime Minister Union Council of Ministers Civil Services Cabinet Secretary State governments Law Chief Justice Constitution District Courts Fundamental rights, principles and duties High Courts Human rights Supreme Court Enforcement Federal Border Security Force ( BSF ) Central Industrial Security Force ( CISF ) Central Reserve Police Force ( CRPF ) Indo - Tibetan Border Police ( ITBP ) National Security Guard ( NSG ) Railway Protection Force ( RPF ) Sashastra Seema Bal ( SSB ) Special Protection Group ( SPG ) Intelligence Bureau of Police Research and Development ( BPR&D ) Central Bureau of Investigation ( CBI ) Directorate of Revenue Intelligence ( DRI ) Enforcement Directorate Intelligence Bureau ( IB ) Joint Intelligence Committee ( JIC ) Narcotics Control Bureau ( NCB ) National Investigation Agency ( NIA ) Research and Analysis Wing ( R&AW ) Military Army Navy Air Force Politics Censorship Elections Nationalism Parliament Lok Sabha Rajya Sabha Political parties INC BJP BSP CPI CPM NCP Reservations Scandals Scheduled groups Secularism Economy Companies BSE SENSEX CNX Nifty Government - owned companies List of companies Governance Ministry of Finance Finance ministers Ministry of Commerce and Industry Commerce ministers Finance Commission Planning Commission Economic Advisory Council Central Statistical Office Securities and Exchange Board of India Enforcement Directorate Foreign trade Remittances Taxation Subsidies Industrial licensing Voluntary guidelines NITI Aayog Make in India FDI in India Currency Indian rupee History Historical exchange rates data of the Indian rupee Coinage Reserve Bank of India Governors India Government Mint Financial services Banking Banks Insurance Foreign exchange reserves Bombay Stock Exchange National Stock Exchange Multi Commodity Exchange Bullion Black money History Economic Development Economic liberalisation Licence Raj Green revolution Government initiatives Numbering system People Billionaires Businesspeople Demography Income Poverty Labour law Pensions EPFO NPS PPF States Andhra Pradesh Assam Bihar Goa Gujarat Haryana Himachal Pradesh Jammu and Kashmir Karnataka Kerala Madhya Pradesh Maharashtra Manipur Mizoram Nagaland Odisha Punjab Rajasthan Tamil Nadu Telangana Uttarakhand Uttar Pradesh West Bengal Sectors Agriculture Livestock Fishing Automotive Defence Construction Education Energy Nuclear Solar Wind Entertainment Forestry Gambling Healthcare Information technology Media Cinema Television Printing Mining Pharmaceuticals Retail Science and technology Biotechnology Telecommunications Textiles Tourism Transport Aviation Civil Ports Rail Utilities Electricity Water Society Culture Society Caste system Corruption Demographics Education Universities in India Medical colleges in India Law colleges in India Engineering colleges in India Ethnic relations Healthcare Hospitals in India Languages Literacy Poverty Prisons Religion Socio - economic issues Standard of living Water supply and sanitation Crime Culture Arts and entertainment Architecture Blogging Cinema Comics Webcomics Cuisine wine Dance Dress Folklore Festivals Literature Media television Martial arts Music Public holidays Sport VIAF : 158301849 ISNI : 0000 0001 0709 882X GND : 5026822 - 3 SUDOC : 082963258 Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Bharatiya_Janata_Party&oldid=806991728 '' Categories : 1980 establishments in India Bharatiya Janata Party Hindutva Political parties established in 1980 Right - wing parties Indian Hindu political parties International Democrat Union member parties National political parties in India Hidden categories : Wikipedia indefinitely semi-protected pages Good articles Use Indian English from June 2016 All Wikipedia articles written in Indian English Use dmy dates from June 2014 Pages using deprecated image syntax Articles with hAudio microformats Articles containing potentially dated statements from 2016 All articles containing potentially dated statements Articles containing potentially dated statements from July 2017 Wikipedia articles with VIAF identifiers Wikipedia articles with ISNI identifiers Wikipedia articles with GND identifiers Talk Variants View source Contents About Wikipedia Wikimedia Commons Languages Afrikaans অসমীয়া বাংলা Bân - lâm - gú Беларуская भोजपुरी Dansk Deutsch Español Esperanto فارسی Fiji Hindi Français ગુજરાતી 한국어 हिन्दी Bahasa Indonesia Italiano עברית ಕನ್ನಡ ქართული मैथिली മലയാളം मराठी مصرى Bahasa Melayu Nederlands नेपाली 日本 語 Norsk Norsk nynorsk Occitan ଓଡ଼ିଆ ਪੰਜਾਬੀ پنجابی Piemontèis Polski Português Română Русский संस्कृतम् Scots සිංහල Simple English Српски / srpski Srpskohrvatski / српскохрватски Suomi Svenska Tagalog தமிழ் తెలుగు ไทย Türkçe Українська اردو Tiếng Việt 中文 Edit links This page was last edited on 25 October 2017, at 08 : 11. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution - ShareAlike License ; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia ® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization. About Wikipedia

Question: who became the first president of the bharti janta party when it was formally established
Answer: Vajpayee