DNA Special: Analysing the BJP's journey to the top, what makes the party stand apart

What are the things that make the BJP different from other parties in the country? Yesterday was the BJP's 42nd Foundation Day. On this occasion, Prime Minister Modi made three important points. The first is that the parties in this country, which are run by only one family, betrayed the people of India for decades. Secondly, the BJP is the only party in the country that has been able to explain to the people the pitfalls of vote bank politics. Thirdly, the BJP's effort is to extend the benefits of the schemes to the last person.

The event took place at the BJP's national headquarters in Delhi and during this time, diplomats from 13 countries like France, Italy, Switzerland, Poland, Singapore and Bangladesh were also present at the event.

Rise of the BJP

On April 6, 1980, former Prime Ministers Atal Bihari Vajpayee and LK Advani formed the Bharatiya Janata Party. However, the BJP came into existence as an ideology in the year 1951. At that time, Shyama Prasad Mukherjee founded the Bharatiya Jana Sangh on the ideology of nationalism. After the Emergency ended in 1977, the Bharatiya Jana Sangh merged with the Janata Party. The reason for this merger was that all these parties wanted to defeat Indira Gandhi after the Emergency.

The BJP contested its first Lok Sabha elections in 1984 and won only two seats. It was a big defeat for the BJP as it had fielded its candidates in 224 seats. But after this, the BJP worked to strengthen its organization at the ground level. And in just 16 years of its establishment, it became the largest party in the country.

In the 1996 Lok Sabha elections, it had won 161 seats and became the largest party in the country. At that time, the BJP had formed a coalition government, which was in power for only 13 days. After this, in the 1998 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP changed its strategy and formed the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) with many parties. But then Jayalalithaa's party AIADMK withdrew its support to the BJP, which led to the fall of this government in 13 months. However, in these 13 months, the BJP became very popular among the people of India. Because during this time period, India conducted a nuclear test in Pokhran.

When the Lok Sabha elections were held again in 1999, the BJP had won 183 seats and this government became the first non-Congress government in the history of India to complete its five-year term. This was the period when India fought a war against Pakistan in Kargil and won this war. In this period, the BJP had big leaders like Atal Bihari Vajpayee and L K Advani. But then in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, Narendra Modi became the prime minister of the country and in these elections, the BJP won 282 seats. And the BJP got a majority for the first time in its history. After this, in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections also, the BJP won 303 seats.

How the BJP expanded in 42 years, you can understand from these figures. In 1981, the BJP had only 148 MLAs across the country. But today, their number is 1,296.  In 1984, the BJP had only two MPs. But today it has 303 MPs. In the 1984 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP got 1 crore 89 lakh votes. But in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, it got 22 crore 89 lakh votes. Today, the BJP has become the largest party in the world. The BJP has more than 17 crore workers. China's Communist Party has 91.4 million workers.

The BJP is called a machine of election. Because it works like a machine. The machine is neither tired nor takes a vacation. And it works without stopping. Similarly, the BJP also works like a machine to strengthen the organisation at the ground level.

The BJP is often considered a party of the middle class, traders and the rich. But at the moment, all over the country, in Parliament and also in the Legislative Assemblies, the most backward community MPs and MLAs belong to the BJP. And the BJP which has come up with schemes, they are also connected with the backward and the poor. Many times, the rich and the business class also get angry with it.

After the Left parties, the BJP is the only party based on ideology. While the rest of the parties are based on the ideology of the family. The BJP also remains against the politics of freebies and this also makes it different from the rest of the parties.