English Indian People's Party
Pro-Hindu political party of India.
The BJP traces its roots to the the Bharatiya Jana Sangh (founded in 1951), which advocated the rebuilding of India in accordance with Hindu culture. The BJP was formally established in 1980. It achieved its first significant electoral success in 1989, though in 1992 the destruction of the Babri Mosjid (Mosque of B 0101; bur) in Ayodhya caused a backlash against it. In 1996 the BJP formed a short-lived government. Two years later the party and its allies formed a majority government with Atal Bihari Vajpayee as prime minister. Vajpayee again became prime minister in 1998 as head of a coalition of the BJP and other parties. In 2004, however, the coalition was defeated in parliamentary elections, and Vajpayee resigned from office.