Hindu Nationalism and Indian Politics
The Origins and Development of the Bharatiya Jana Sangh

This book presents a comprehensive and perceptive study of the Bharatiya Jana Sangh through the first two decades of its history from 1951.

Bruce Desmond Graham (Author)

9780521053747, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 3 December 2007

296 pages
21 x 14 x 1.7 cm, 0.394 kg

This book presents a comprehensive and perceptive study of the Bharatiya Jana Sangh through the first two decades of its history from 1951. The Bharatiya Jana Sangh was the most robust of the first generation of Hindu nationalist parties in modern Indian politics and Bruce Graham examines why the party failed to establish itself as the party of the numerically dominant Hindu community. The author explains the relatively limited appeal of the Bharatiya Jana Sangh in terms of the restrictive scope of its founding doctrines; the limitations of its leadership and organization; its failure to build up a secure base of social and economic interests; and its difficulty in finding issues which would create support for its particular brand of Hindu nationalism. Bruce Graham ends with a major survey of the party's electoral fortunes at national, state and local levels.

List of illustrations
List of tables
Preface
List of abbreviations
1. The challenge of Hindu nationalism
2. The immediate origins of the Jana Sangh
3. The doctrinal inheritance of the Jana Sangh
4. The leadership and organization of the Jana Sangh, 1951 to 1967
5. The Jana Sangh as a Hindu nationalist rally
6. The Jana Sangh and interest-group politics
7. The Jana Sangh in electoral politics, 1951 to 1967
8. Conclusion
Appendices
Select bibliography
Index.

Subject Areas: Political economy [KCP]