The BJP is the successor party of the BJS, which merged itself into the Janata Party in 1977. The BJP was formed as a separate party in 1980 after internal differences in the Janata Party resulted in the collapse of its government in 1979.
Bharatiya Janata Party is today the most prominent member of the family of organisations known as the "Sangh Parivar".
THE FIRST DECADE The first decade was a period of steady growth, policy evolution and ideological elaboration. The issues of territorial integrity like Kashmir, Kutch and Berubari were taken up - and in the process also suffered the martyrdom of its founder-President Dr Mookerjee in a Kashmir jail. It demanded cow protection as per Article 48 of the Constitution and Gandhiji's declaration that "Cow protection is more important than even Swarajya". It came out against Zamindari and Jagirdari. It criticised permit- licence-quota Raj. And it came out for the nuclear option to reinforce national defense. The 1962 China war and 1965 Pakistan war put Sangh Parivar on the center-stage as the conscience of the country. When the RSS Parivar was entrusted with the police duties in 1965, it performed the same to the satisfaction of all-even Muslims began to join Jana Sangh.
Reorganized itself as BHARATIYA JANATA PARTY The splintered Janata Party was routed in January 1980, their suicidal "dual membership" campaign continued. The BJS component found this situation impossible, and it went out and reorganized itself as BHARATIYA JANATA PARTY.
The very first session of BJP in December 1980 in Bombay, presided over by Shri Vajpayee, was a glorious success. Addressing this session, the Grand Old Man of India, Shri M.C. Chagla, said: "I am not a member of the party and I am not addressing you as a delegate. Still I assure you that when I am talking to you I do not feel like an outsider. I honestly and sincerely feel that I am one of you. The BJP is a national party. I admire your discipline, your honesty, and your dedication. This huge gathering is Bombay's answer to Indira. This is the only party that can replace Indira."
The BJP appointed a high power Working Group to study the results of the 1984 elections and recommend remedial action. The Party streamlined its organization. It re-pledged itself to "Integral Humanism". It urged early and comprehensive electoral reform. And it highlighted the problem of massive infiltration from Bangladesh.
In the 1989 elections the Janata Dal effected adjustments of seats with the BJP and proceeded to form the Government with outside support from the BJP and the Communists.
SEA CHANGE IN POLITICAL SCENE Shri Advani's Rath Yatra from Somnath to Ayodhya affected a sea change in the political scene. While Mandal had divided the people, Ayodhya united the people. What violence there was in 1990 came only because the government arrested Shri Advani and the UP Chief Minister fired on Kar-Sevaks. Had they allowed Advani to reach Ayodhya and do symbolic Kar-Seva there would have been no Bandh, no violence, anywhere.
BJP won 89 seats in 1989. Parties like JD, being loose outfits, were in no position to survive serious reverses.
This trend was confirmed in State Assembly elections. In the 1993 elections the BJP vote and seats declined in HP and MP thanks to strict administrative measures for which public opinion had not been prepared in advance. In UP the party lost its majority due to a gang-up of all other parties against it, but its popular vote went up by almost 30% to 34%. In Rajasthan both our vote and our seats went up. And in Delhi we got a whopping 61.59% and a three-fourths majority. In these five major states put together BJP won a hundred assembly seats and once crore votes more than the Congress.
UNSTOPPABLE BJP The results of the 1995 elections in Andhra, Karnataka, Bihar, Orissa, Goa, Gujarat and Maharashtra were, if anything, even more remarkable. In Andhra the main fight being between TDP and the Congress the BJP got squeezed to just 3 seats. But, in Karnataka BJP won 40 seats; pushing the Congress to the third position. In Goa, for the first time the BJP won 4 seats in a house of 60. In Orissa BJP trebled its modest strength from 3 to 10. In Bihar, BJP pushed Congress to the third position and emerged as the official opposition. In Maharashtra, Shiv Sena and the BJP have formed a fine coalition government. And in Gujarat the BJP has won a two-thirds majority. It is trends like these that have convinced even the detractors of BJP that the party is now "unstoppable".
Conventional wisdom is that the BJP won 89 Lok Sabha seats in 1989 as a result of seat adjustments with JD and 119 seats in 1991 as a result of the Ayodhya issue. The fact is that these were only contributory factors. The BJP's historic performance in the recent assembly elections, when there was no seat adjustment with other parties and when the Ayodhya issue stood frozen, is confirmation of the fact that basically the BJP is forging ahead because of its excellent organisation, superb leadership and patriotic people's policies.
When, in 1991, the Congress formed the Government on its own, even though it did not have a majority of its own, the BJP acted very responsibly and helped it have a speaker of its choice, content with deputy speakership of the Lok Sabha. Having been all along opposed to a licence-permit-quota Raj it welcomed the policy of liberalization in principle. At long last New Delhi recognised Israel and South Africa, something the BJP had urged for long. BJP also took a far-sighted view of reservations - conceding the same to OBCs on the basis of an economic criterion, which translated itself in the Supreme Court judgement into the "creamy layer". BJP state governments enunciated a new education policy; they made copying in exams a cognizable offence; they decentralized the administration; their Antyodaya took care of the poorest of the land; they waived the loans of poor farmers; and they made war on criminal elements and put them in jail.
CLEAR BJP POSITION The BJP position is very clear on this issue; Indian Science and technology have come of age, as examplified by our Defence and Research Development Organisation. Therefore, foreign capital is welcome only in capital intensive high-tech and infrastructural areas; however, it must come on fair and competitive terms. And because Enron was an opaque, expensive and dubious deal it has been cancelled by the BJP-RSS government in Maharashtra. This has protected national interests and upheld national honor. The new watchword is "Swadeshi". The world has been told in unmistakable terms that India cannot be taken for granted. The entire third world feels good about India standing up.
Today, strong foreign pressure, New Delhi's pusillanimity and nationalist India's strength are all simultaneously at play in the country. Under foreign pressure our missile program has been capped. In its timidity the government has signed an unequal agreement with CNN and the country is being increasingly served cultural garbage. But the people of India represented in the Rajya Sabha have, under the leadership of the BJP, taken a stand on all these issues. They have also prevented an anti-national patent law amendment bill from being passed. And they have acclaimed the cancellation of the Enron deal. They caused the Star-TV's anti-Gandhi and anti-national program to stop. And they have made the government agree to start and close Parliament session with "Vandematram". The BJP's Ekta Yatra under the leadership of Dr Joshi hoisted the national flag in Srinagar on Republic Day in 1992. And the BJP's Karnataka unit saw to it that the National Flag is duly hoisted on the Hubli public ground, which is used for Namaz on Id-days.
While the Supreme Court faltered on the issue of Article 356 of the Constitution to dismiss four BJP governments, it has come out categorically for implementation of Article 44 of the Constitution, directing the adoption of a uniform civil code for all citizens of India. It has denounced the embracing of Islam just to get rid of your wife and/or indulge in bigamy. And it has struck down the ban on the VHP. Today the BJP is poised to take a great leap forward.