Hindutva Politics And Bharatiya Janata Party

Hindutva, a typical ideology of Hindu Nationalism, emphasizes the Hindu culture and Hindu traditions, aiming at the establishment of a Hindu dominated India state. Hindutva ideology has profoundly influenced the political development of India since 1920s. In the process of fighting for national independence, Hindutva and Hindu nationalism mainly competed with British colonialism and Congress Party's secularism;With the establishment of India nation,the competitor became principle of secularism enshrined in the Constitution. In 1980s, with the revival of Hindu nationalism, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has grown from a small party to one of two main political parties in Indian politics. From 1998 to 2004, Bharatiya Janata Party won the Lok Sabha elections, becoming the ruling party. In this paper, Hindutva and the BJP are the objects of analysis, mainly analysis of the performance of Hindutva politics in different historical periods, and analysis of the role of Hindutva politics in BJP development, the impact of Hindutva politics on the political development process in India.The paper is devided into three parts. The first part analyse the historical background of Hinutva, its content and essence, exploring the relationship between Hindu nationalism which is represented by Hindutva and secular nationalism, i.e.India nationalism. The second part analyse the Hindutva political practice of Hindu Mahasabha and Bharatiya Jana Sangh, analyse the role and impact of Hindu nationalism organizations in Hindutva politics. The third part analyse the role of Hindutva in promoting BJP development, the constraints, the impact of Hindutva politics on the political development process in India. Finally, concluded that, BJP should gradually reduce the Hindutva political feature, transit to a full-type political party. However, the close relationship with Hindu nationalism organizations esp. the RSS becomes obstacles to its transition, BJP needs to pay a considerable effort to dilute the Hindutva political overtones.