TNI Bureau: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is celebrating its 44th Foundation Day today. The saffron party is organising different events across the country in order to mark the foundation day. It was founded by former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Ex Deputy PM Lal Krishna Advani on April 6, 1980.
After getting spilt from Janata Party, the BJP contested the 1984 Lok Sabha election and won 2 seats. However, the saffron party’s growth from two Lok Sabha seats in 1984 to 303 seats in 2019 has been an inspirational journey of expansion of thought and ideology.
BJP’s origins lie in the Bharatiya Jana Sangh, which was founded by Shyama Prasad Mukherjee in 1951. It joined hands with several other political parties to form the Janata Party and defeated the Indian National Congress in the 1977 general election but it dissolved in 1980 as some of the members decided to form the modern-day BJP.
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After getting only two Lok Sabha seats in 1984, BJP gradually got stronger by winning elections in several states elections and better performances in national elections. In 1996, it became the largest political party in the Parliament; however, it lacked a majority in the lower house of Parliament, and its government, under Atal Bihari Vajpayee, lasted for only 13 days.
However, BJP under the leadership of government came to power again in 1998 after forming alliance with others and there came to exist the National Democratic Alliance (NDA). But the government lasted only for a year. Later, a fresh election was held and aging the NDA government—again headed by Vajpayee— came to power and lasted for a full term in office.
In the 2004 general election, the NDA suffered an unexpected defeat and stayed out of power for the next ten years till 2014 when Narendra Modi became the Prime Minister. The NDA made a strong came back by winning 282 Lok Sabha seats. Since then it has proven its dominance and went on to become the largest political party in terms of members in the Parliament.
In 2019, BJP bettered its stand by winning 303 seats alone and further increased its substantial majority. In addition, the NDA won 353 seats. Now, the saffron party has chalked the plan and leaving no stones unturned to win 400 seats in 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
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