NEW DELHI – India, with 968 million eligible voters, is currently holding the largest exercise of democratic rights in the world. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) – the world’s largest political party – is widely expected to win.

The BJP has come to dominate India’s electoral landscape for several reasons: it focused relentlessly on building its organizational strength, promoted meritocracy within its ranks, widened its voter base, and competently delivered benefits to the poor.

Socially conservative but economically centrist, the BJP was formally established in 1980, though its roots lie in the Bharatiya Jana Sangh, a party that emerged in the 1950s to offer a Hindu nationalistic, laissez-faire alternative to that era’s prevailing socialist mindset. The BJP has been in power for about 19 of the 77 years since Indian independence: three years from 1977, 13 days in 1996, one year in 1998, five years from 1999, and ten years since 2014. Thus, it has retained the DNA of a challenger, despite winning 292 of the Lok Sabha’s 543 seats in the 2019 elections, when the Indian National Congress, the second-largest party, won only 51.

QOSHE - What Explains the BJP’s Rise? - Gaurav Dalmia
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What Explains the BJP’s Rise?

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08.05.2024

NEW DELHI – India, with 968 million eligible voters, is currently holding the largest exercise of democratic rights in the world. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) – the world’s largest political party – is widely expected to win.

The BJP........

© Project Syndicate


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