India’s current government is led by the Bharatiya Janta Party or the BJP. It is also the country’s largest national party. It was formed in 1980, though its origins lie in the Bharatiya Jana Sangh, which was founded in 1951. The Jana Sangh was closely associated with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), a Hindu nationalist organization that continues to play a significant role in shaping the BJP’s ideology.
The party first came to power at the center in 1996, but its government lasted only 13 days. It returned to power in 1998, forming a coalition under the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), with Atal Bihari Vajpayee as Prime Minister. His tenure saw India conducting nuclear tests in 1998, economic reforms, and a focus on infrastructure development. However, the BJP lost power in 2004 to the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA).
The BJP made a historic comeback in 2014 by securing 282 seats out of 543 in the Lok Sabha, with Narendra Modi as India’s prime minister. Major policy changes include the revocation of Article 370, which granted special status to Jammu and Kashmir, the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) 2019, and the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Act, 2019 that criminalized triple talaq in India.
The government’s handling of several protests and crises has faced widespread scrutiny. The 2020–2021 farmer protests, which were sparked by the controversial farm laws that were later repealed, drew significant public attention, with criticism directed at the use of force and the management of the situation. Similarly, the government’s response to the 2019 Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) protests raised concerns over its handling of dissent, particularly the use of force. The BJP’s management of the COVID-19 pandemic also attracted criticism, especially regarding the lack of transparency around the death toll, shortages of medical resources like oxygen cylinders, and inadequate preparedness during the second wave.
Additionally, the ongoing inter-tribe conflict in Manipur, which erupted in 2023, has faced criticism for the government’s perceived failure to take adequate action, with accusations of poor crisis management and insufficient intervention in addressing the escalating violence.
This is called “quenching of a guilty feeling” that Udit Raj is now looking so troubled about Dalit-matters. Or plain opportunism. He is as big a sham as Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi and other Muslim and Dalit leaders who joined the BJP and CONTINUED to remain with it — even when this party so unambiguously demonstrated that it “doesn’t only NOT treat them as equals”, but is murderously HOSTILE towards the Dalits and the Muslims. Where was Udit Raj when Dalits were mercilessly thrashed in Una and other places, so much so that they all converted to Buddhism? Or when one of them was not allowed to ride a mare for his wedding, or grow a moustache, or play DJ music? Now he wants to portray himself as the Messiah of Dalits when elections are nearing? I will personally rejoice if Udit Raj and Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi and Ram Vilas Paswan and Shahnawaz Hussain lose in 2019 elections. And also M.J. Akbar, if he decides to contest to “further serve” his weird choice of a political party.
Why shouldn’t there be a limit on reservation? Should the unreserved class Hindus suffer discrimination till they are completely wiped out of the public system as has happened in Tamil Nadu? This extraordinary resistance of dalit leaders to reforms and limit on reservation is shocking. So-called discrimination is no basis for continuing with reservation till eternity.