Essay on the Ideology and social base of Bharatiya Janata Party

The Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) was formally launched as an independent political organisation in February 1980, after the split of the Janata Party on the R.S.S issue.
Most of east while Jana Sangha members along with a few others, left the Janata Party to form the B.J.P. Thus the B.J.P. is a reincarnation of the Jana Sangha, the militant Hindu nationalist party founded in 1951 by Shyama Prasad Mukherjee.
The object of the Jana Sangha was the rebuilding of Bharat as a modern, democratic society in accordance with religious precepts. The party adopted four fundamentals one country, one nation, one culture and a rule of law that would determine its future course of action Nehru described the party as its "Illegitimate child."
Professor Rasheeduddin Khan has rightly remarked, "The BJP has prints of continuity with the Jana Sangha, in its discipline and well knit organisational set up and units linkage with the traditional Hindus socio-cultural organisations, the RSS and the VTTP."
Support Base:
The BJP's support base is essentially the same as that of the erst while Jana Sangha. It is a party of the urban educated Hindu middle classes professionals, small businessmen and white collar workers.
In Gujarat, Maharashtra, Delhi and Rajasthan BJP is the ruling party with charismatic leaders like Suresh Meheta, Gopinath Mundle, Mandas Lai Khurana and Bhairon Singh shekhawat.
But BJP's most impressive performance was in Karnataka, U.P. and Gujarat in 1991 election. In all these states the BJP vote went up by over 20%. Gujarat represents the BJP's most spectacular showing.
Electoral Performance:
In 1967, the party gave its full support to the SVD ministry in U.P headed by Charan Singh and it had 98 members in the Vidhan Sabha. In 1977, with 98 of its men in parliament under the Janata banner it received only three cabinet ministership.
In 1980 the party backed Jagajivan Ramand in 1983 with their 18 members in the Karnataka legislature the BJP supported R.K. Hegde who was then of a minority The BJP bore V.P. Singh on its shoulders after he formed the Jana Morcha. In 1984 during its worst showing only 2 Lok Sabha seats it still polled 7.4% of the national votes ahead of the Janata's 6.7 percent and the Lok Dai's 5.6.
Ideology and Programme:
The BJP believes in Gandhian socialism. The party says that its socialism is inspired not only bi Gandhi and JP but also by a Deen Dayal Upadhyaya.
It stands for positive secularism and clean government while laying emphasis! on the 'Hindus Idiom' on its poll manifesto, the party stands for justice for all and appeasement of none.
Policy of reservations for the scheduled castes and scheduled tribes apply the same policy to the backward castes broadly in line with the recommendation of the Mandal Commission. The party also favours smaller and stronger states desires to abolish Article 370, favours uniform civil code and would like to establish Human Rights Commission.
BJP - RSS Relationship:
The Jana sangh has been closely associated with the RSS. The RSS has served as the organizational base for the party. The BJP being its successor, what type of relationship it has with the RSS? The official stand of the BJP and the RSS is that those are two separate organizations working in two different -fields.
Besides they do not interfere in each others work. But an over whelming majority of the BJP workers have RSS background. Therefore a large number of people think that the two organizations belong to the one and some family.
Even the BJP has reaffirmed its RSS link. It seems this link as vital to its newly emphasized commitment to national unity since it believes that the RSS's patriotism is unmatched. It is' in fact proud of its link with RSS.
The BJP is now being viewed as an alternative to the century partoes that have so far had a monopoly on power.

Biography of Mamta Banerjee (short)

Mamta Banerjee was born on 5th January 1955 in Kolkata, West Bengal. Her parents Gayetri and Promileswar Banerjee belonged to lower middle class. Presently she is serving as the 11th Chief Minister of the West Bengal. She is the first woman to head the state. She has reached this point by defeating the longest ever democratically chosen government of Communist Party of India (Marxist), by a huge margin. This brought an end to 34 year long Communist rule over the state. She is also the chair person of 'All India Trinamool Congress' which was founded by her in the year 1997.
Mamta Banerjee completed her bachelor's degree from Jogamaya Devi College, in southern Kolkata. Later, she completed her Master's course in Islamic History from University of Calcutta. She also completed her degree in education from Shikshayatan College. This was followed by a degree in law from Jogesh Chandra Chaudhuri Law College, Kolkata.
Mamta Banerjee started her political career in a young age only. She joined Indian National Congress and rose swiftly to higher ranks in the local circle of the party. She served as the General Secretary of the Mahila Congress (I), West Bengal from the year 1976-1980. In 1984, Mamta won the general elections and became the youngest ever Parliamentarian. She defeated veteran Communist leader Somnath Chatterjee from the Jadhavpur constituency, West Bengal. She also served as the General Secretary of All India Youth Congress. However, in 1989 she lost her seat due to anti-Congress wave in the country. But in 1991, she regained the seat and from then onwards she has retained the seat in 1996, 1998, 1999, 2004 and 2009 from south Kolkata.
In 1991, she was made the Union Minister of State and was given the portfolio of Human Resource Development, Youth Affairs and Sports and Women and Child development. Though, she was removed from the portfolio when she protested as a sports minister against her own government. It was in the year 1997 when Mamta Banerjee moved out of the Congress Party and founded 'Trinamool Congress'. In 1999, she joined the BJP led NDA government and was allocated the Railways ministry. She started various new trains for her home state during the first rail budget presented by her. But in 2001, she made allegations about the NDA government and moved out of the coalition. Later, she shook hands with Congress in the same year.
In 2004, she came back in the governance and was allocated the ministry of coals and mines. She protested against the forceful acquisition of agricultural land for the industrial purposes. In 2009, she was again made the Minister of Railways in UPA led government.
On 20th May, 2011, she was sworn-in as the first woman Chief Minister of the state. She had recorded a land slide victory over her rival party. During her tenure, she is also in charge of 09 key departments of the government.
Apart from this there have been numerous instances when Mamata Banerjee had behaved in an unexpected and aggressive manner. She had threw her shawl over the then Railways Minister Ram Vilas Paswan for not giving due share to West Bengal in rail budget. She had also headed the Nandigram protests against the forceful acquisition of agricultural land. Tata had to shift their production base as a result of these protests to Gujarat.
She had always remained single throughout her life and always clad in a cotton sari she puts on minimal accessories and carries an austere outlook.

Biography of Narendra Modi: A Political Phenomenon

Narendra Damodardas Modi, popularly known as Narendra Modi is the current Chief Minister of the state of Gujarat and the BJP's Prime Ministerial candidate for the 2014 general elections. He was selected by L.K Advani, the leader of the Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) in 2001 to give a direction to the election campaign in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh. Mr. Modi was elected as Chief Minister of Gujarat on October 7th, 2001 and is the longest serving Chief Minister of the state. In the 2012 Gujarat legislative assembly election he won his fourth constituency term as the Chief Minister of Gujarat. 

A career that started as an errand runner for the RSS (Hindu Right wing group) is now perhaps on the way to reaching its zenith. Yes, Mr. Narendra Damodardas Modi has walked quite a distance wearing unflinching confidence on his sleeves. The Gujarat Chief Minister and BJP's Prime Ministerial candidate is a fascinating case study as the man opens up equal number of avenues for his critics as well as admirers. The man is admired for his economic policies and growth scenario in Gujarat, but he also bears flak for the dismal state of the Human Development Index in Gujarat. As the pendulum of the verdict sways to and fro for him, let's have a deeper look into Narendra Modi's biography.

Humble Beginnings 


The idea of struggle was never very distant for Modi. He used to run a tea stall till the time RSS inducted him as a full-time member. With whatever minimal training he received from the party's associates, he surged ahead and exhibited enough capability to be given the charge of the ABVP (the student wing of RSS). His diligence and dedication towards the party hardly ebbed despite the fact that he was simultaneously pursuing a Master's degree in Political Science. This 'average student' from Vadnagar tutored himself to take greater steps on a national level.

Family

Although there isn't enough about Modi's personal life in the public domain, the political discourse sometimes throws up bits of facts and stories. He was born into a middle class family of six in Vadnagar in Mehsana District (then Bombay state) to Damodardas Mulchand Modi and Heeradben Modi. He was bethrothed when quite young, but chose to walk away from the marriage and has remained a bachelor. 

Early days in Politics

Narendra Modi was drawn to politics in his early teens and was a member of Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS). During the 1960's India-Pakistan war, even though he was only a young boy, he volunteered to serve soldiers traveling through railway stations. As a youth, he became a member of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad, a student body involved in anti-corruption. After having worked full time with them, he was then nominated as its representative in the BJP. Modi was also a campaigner in the RSS during his years in college and took on the task of encouraging the party members. Partnering with Shankersingh Vaghela, Modi began a strong cadre base in Gujarat. Narendra Modi has come from a humble background and is known for his simple lifestyle. He has a reputation of being a workaholic and introvert. Mr. Modi has tried to change his image from that of a Hindu Nationalist politician to that of a sincere administrator. 

The party began getting political attention and formed a coalition government in April 1990. After this, the BJP came to power in Gujarat in 1995. During this period, Modi was responsible for the Somnath to Ayodhya Rath Yatra and a similar trek from Kanyakumari in Southern India all the way up to Kashmir in the north. 

A careful observation of his rise to the national podium would evince how he remained glued to his fundamentals - continuing agitations during the nationwide Emergency, organizing Murli Manohar Joshi's Ekta yatra (journey for unity), and impressing everyone with electoral strategy ahead of the 1995 state elections. As BJP tasted victory, Modi relished his newly ordained post of the party's General Secretary. The workaholic and loyal 'sevak' moved to New Delhi to take up the new responsibility of managing the party's activities in Haryana and Himachal Pradesh. Three summers whizzed past and Modi already had the post of National Secretary of the BJP under his kitty.

First Stint as Chief Minister of Gujarat

Times were turbulent in Gujarat with allegations of corruption and poor governance doing the rounds. After Shankarsingh Vaghela left the BJP, Keshubhai Patel was made Chief Minister of Gujarat and Modi became General Secretary of the party in Delhi. Weak handling of the effects of the Bhuj Earthquake in 2001 prompted the BJP's national leaders to seek a new candidate as chief minister, after the removal of Keshubhai Patel. In October 2001, Modi was brought in to fill the vacuum and made Chief Minister of Gujarat despite his lack of experience in governance. Initially, the BJP was not very keen on having him at the forefront and the party was contemplating the position of deputy CM for him, which he refused. He wrote to Advani, and the then Prime Minister Mr. Atal Bihari Vajpayee, stating that he was either "going to be fully responsible for Gujarat or not at all". In July 2007, he became the longest-serving Chief Minister in Gujarat's political history. 

In the Gujarat legislative assembly elections of 2012, Narendra Modi won the constituency of Maninagar over the Indian National Congress, with a majority of 86,373 votes. The BJP won 115 out of the 182 seats and formed its government in Gujarat. This was Narendra Modi's fourth term as the Chief Minister. The following year in March, he was appointed as member to the BJP Parliamentary Board which is the highest decision-making body of the party. He was also nominated as a member of the party's Central Election Committee. 

Taking Tough Calls

His rift with the VHP started to show after his much-criticized decision of demolishing 200 illegal temples in Gandhinagar. This was just the trailer. Modi was also vocal about PM Manmohan Singh's reluctance to revive anti-terror laws. He called for invoking tougher laws in states following the 2006 Mumbai blasts. Time and again, he has judiciously chosen issues to pontificate and attack the central government. In the wake of the November 2008 Mumbai attacks, Modi brought up the issue of security along Gujarat's coast. The UPA government acted upon this immediately and sanctioned construction of 30 high-speed surveillance boats. Recently, he came down heavily on the Central government for its weak approach towards Chinese incursions in Ladakh and Arunachal Pradesh and infiltration by Bangladeshis on the Indo-Bangladesh border.

Criticisms The Modi government came under bitter criticism following the 2002 Gujarat riots that betrayed the prevailing communal harmony within the state. Investigations were ordered into alleged abetment of crime. Modi's image suffered a quake as a common consensus was established that pointed fingers at the chief minister for allowing communal violence in the state. Some demanded his prosecution for promoting enmity among different communities during the riots. His way of functioning has also been the topic of much debate in the political arena with commentators and subject-matter experts lambasting him for carrying the DNA of fascist leadership. His critics call him a self-centered autocrat who doesn't care a hoot about the BJP. The Gujarat chief minister finds himself in the bad books of analysts as he is also accused of twisting facts to suit political motives on more than one occasion. 

In June 2013, when Narendra Modi's was appointed as the chairman of the national campaign committee, L K Advani submitted his resignation escalating his objection against Modi's appointment. But the BJP leadership remained rigid on its choice to put Modi in front of 2014 campaign. 

A self-made man

Besides being a revered orator and a prolific writer, he is also a caring son and a man with his brand of humour. Those who have associated with him for long are of the opinion that the idea of power is exciting to him. Next time you wonder how he could garner so much of national attention, think of this. He underwent a rigorous training in the US on public relations and image management. 

When it comes to taking lessons on brand building, Modi says there's no greater inspiration than Mahatma Gandhi. His eulogies about Gandhi come from the fact that "He spoke of Ahimsa but carried a stick. He never wore a cap but the world wears a Gandhi Topi." Modi's careful metamorphosis from a Hindutva party man to a pro-development leader and change maker speaks volumes for his image-building ability. His 2-year long escapade into the Himalayas and co-mingling with the yogic sadhus gave him a fair understanding of Hinduism. That partly explains why people listen to him in rapt attention when he talks of ideologies. 

Face of Development - Favorite among the leaders of India Inc.

Modi frequently refers to his P2G2 (Pro-people good governance) formula to substantiate his claims on holistic development. Some observers are of the opinion that Gujarat has been able to improve its agricultural output despite being a semi-arid state. The credit is given to the Gujarat government's measures to scale up groundwater projects and initiatives to increase the use of micro-irrigation. 

India Inc. is almost unanimous in their verdict. They want Narendra Modi as the next PM. Reason? They seek a strong leadership that has a clear roadmap and actionable plans ready for execution. Indian business leaders from Ratan Tata to Mukesh Ambani seem to be convinced that for India to come out of its Gross Domestic Paralysis, a visionary and decisive leadership is essential. Empirical evidence suggests that Gujarat has been able to position itself as a lucrative destination for investment. Under his aegis, according to a political commentator, the level of corruption receded and technology parks have seen the light of the day. His iconic call for "Minimum Government and Maximum Governance" has frequently struck the chord with the masses.

With so many brand images of Narendra Modi existing in a juxtaposed manner, it is to be seen which one suits his greater agenda and helps him in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.
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