The Bharatiya Janata Party is celebrating its 42nd Foundation Day on April 6. The journey from the Jana Sangh to the BJP has been a remarkable one, where the party and its leaders followed the line that defines nationalism, national integration, democratic values, non-partisanship, etc. Staying steadfast to its ideology and principles, the BJP has grown from strength to strength.
We draw our inspiration from Deendayal Upadhyay’s philosophy and ideologies of “Integral Humanism” and “Antyodaya” (welfare of the poorest). Our philosophy is also based on the idea of “cultural nationalism” propagated by Syama Prasad Mookerjee. Under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, our government and party are committed to “sabka saath, sabka vikas, sabka vishwas, sabka prayas”.
All BJP governments work under the pledge to ensure the progress and well-being of all sections of society, with no discrimination or favouritism. The party’s guiding principle is the upliftment and empowerment of the poor.
Post-Independence, the Congress governments, first under Jawaharlal Nehru and later other prime ministers, followed the policy of appeasement, besides madly racing to ape the West. It was the Jana Sangh that opposed this and propagated cultural nationalism and national integration. The nation also realised that the Jana Sangh truly represents the “soul” of India.
The hard work, conviction and doggedness of our leaders helped us grow. From two MPs at one time, we now have over 300 MPs in the Lok Sabha. Today, the BJP has formed governments in 17 states and has over 1,300 MLAs and over 400 MPs. We have also crossed the 100 MPs mark in the Rajya Sabha, a commendable feat.
When Amit Shah took over as the party’s president in August 2014, the BJP’s membership was just 3.5 crore. Today, it has a record 18 crore members.
A canard was spread against the Jana Sangh and the BJP that they were right-wing political outfits. Then it was said that they were the parties of the rich and the capitalists. But in just four decades, the BJP became the party of every household, and the credit for this goes to our leaders — from Mookerjee to Upadhyay, Atal Bihari Vajpayee to Narendra Modi. People from Kashmir to Kanyakumari, from Kutch to Kamrup are bestowing their blessings upon the BJP. Today, in a real sense, the BJP is the only national party.
In 1972, Vajpayee made a clear point when he had said, “We are neither going left nor right; we are going straight. And we will continue to strive hard to give the nation a viable and strong political alternative.” This is now well-established under the leadership of PM Modi.
The Congress and other Opposition parties repeatedly tried to spread the falsehood that the BJP is the party of the forward castes. But the BJP, while following its ideology, won the support and love of all sections of our society. Today it has the maximum number of Dalit and OBC MLAs and MPs, while in the Modi government, the representation of Dalit and OBC ministers is the maximum.
The Congress and some other parties always opposed B R Ambedkar, although they never away shied away from using his work to gain political mileage. It is the BJP and PM Modi who, in a real sense, have given him his due recognition and acknowledgement. Under PM Modi, the BJP has successfully decimated the politics of casteism, appeasement, dynasty, nepotism and communalism. Uttar Pradesh is an excellent example of this.
Post-Independence, the Congress shunned the ideologies of our great leaders including Mahatma Gandhi, Lokmanya Tilak, Rabindranath Tagore and Sardar Patel. It also distanced itself from nationalist slogans like “Bharat Mata Ki Jai” and “Vande Mataram”. Chanting the name of Lord Ram became a crime. The Congress and its allies created havoc in the country by mindlessly promoting appeasement, which threatened our national integrity.
But the scenario changed rapidly when the BJP came to power. We re-established cultural nationalism, demolished the policy of appeasement and tackled terrorism and extremism with an iron fist. With this, we have made an equitable society rooted in national integration besides boosting our national security. Some of our greatest achievements include the construction of the Ram temple in Ayodhya after the peaceful resolution of a decades-old dispute; the integration of Jammu and Kashmir which paved the way for its rapid development; and empowering Muslim women by freeing them from the curse of triple talaq.
PM Modi adopted the Gandhian way of living by making cleanliness an integral part of every Indian’s life. He also realised Ambedkar’s mission by successfully implementing pro-poor policies like Ujjwala Yojana, Awas Yojna, Garib Kalyan Anna Yojna and Jal Jeevan Mission. The Modi government empowered the poor and backward sections of our society by giving them electricity, water, gas connections, toilets and, above all, a powerful health insurance scheme. Farmers have been taken care of through schemes like Kisan Samman Nidhi, while workers in the unorganised sector have also benefited from several schemes.
The credit for the great success of the party goes to PM Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah and BJP president Jagat Prakash Nadda. The BJP is committed to the service of humanity and empowering India to the position of a global leader among nations.
This column first appeared in the print edition on April 6, 2022 under the title ‘Holding steady, moving ahead’. The writer is an MP, national media head and chief spokesperson, BJP
