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Neiphiu Rio

Neiphiu Rio

Neiphiu Rio (born 1950) is the Chief Minister of Nagaland, India. Rio is the son of Guolhoulie Rio of Tuophema village in Kohima District. He received his early education from Baptist English School, Kohima and Sainik School. Rio is a member of the Nagaland People's Front which joined other Naga regionalist parties and the state branch of the BJP under his leadership to form the Democratic Alliance of Nagaland, a coalition which won the 2003 state elections, bringing the 15-year-long rule of the Indian National Congress in the state to the end. Rio took office as chief minister on March 6 2003.

Links


- [http://www.nagaland.nic.in/functionaries/assembly/minispage/rio.htm Profile] at Nagaland NIC. Category:Indian politicians Category:Incumbent Indian Chief Ministers Category:Baptists

1950

1950 (MCML) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar).

Events

January


- January 5 - U.S. Senator Estes Kefauver introduces a resolution calling for examination of organized crime in the U.S.
- January 6 - The United Kingdom recognizes the People's Republic of China. The Republic of China severs diplomatic relations with Britain in response.
- January 9 - The Israeli government recognizes the People's Republic of China.
- January 11 - Huk guerillas attack the town of Hermosa in Bataan, Philippines.
- January 12 - Huk guerillas attack the town of Tuyn, kill two and torch the city of Staingnacan.
- January 12 - British submarine Truculent collides with a Swedish oil tanker in River Thames - 64 dead.
- January 13 - Finland forms diplomatic relations to People's Republic of China
- January 15 - Volcanic cloud kills 5000 in Mount Lamington, New Guinea
- January 17 - The Great Brinks Robbery - 11 thieves steal more than $2 million from an armored car in Boston, Massachusetts
- January 21 - Alger Hiss is convicted of perjury
- January 23 - The Knesset passes a resolution that states Jerusalem is the capital of Israel.
- January 24 - Cold War: Klaus Fuchs confesses his wartime espionage at Los Alamos to British interrogators - formally charged February 2
- January 26 - India promulgates its constitution forming a republic and Rajendra Prasad is sworn in as its first president.
- January 28 - Somaliland is put under Italian mandate
- January 29 - Lord Balfour criticizes the fact that rationing is still in force in Britain
- January 31 - President Harry S. Truman announces a program to develop the hydrogen bomb
- January 31 - Last Kuomintang troops surrender in continental China

February


- February 1 - Chiang Kai-shek re-elected as a president of the Republic of China
- February 4 - Ingrid Bergman's illegitimate child arouses ire in USA
- February 9 - Red scare: In his speech to the Republican Women's Club at the McClure Hotel in Wheeling, West Virginia, Senator Joseph McCarthy accuses the United States Department of State of being filled with 205 Communists.
- February 11 - Two Vietcong battalions attack a French base in Indochina
- February 11 - Finland recognizes Indonesia
- February 12 - Pro-communist riots in Paris
- February 12 - European Broadcasting Union founded
- February 13 - In USA army begins to deploy anti-aircraft cannons to protect nuclear stations and military targets
- February 14 - The Soviet Union and the People's Republic of China sign a mutual defense treaty
- February 15 - Juho Kusti Paasikivi re-elected president of Finland
- February 19 - Konrad Adenauer tries unsuccessfully to negotiate with East Germany to begin unification.
- February 12 - Albert Einstein warns that nuclear war could lead to mutual destruction
- February - British Labour Party forms a new government.

March-April


- March 1 - 7.25 PM West South Baptist Church(negro) in Bestridge, Nebraska blows up - all the choir is late for rehearsals
- March 1 - Klaus Fuchs is convicted of spying for the Soviet Union by giving them top secret atomic bomb data.
- March 1 - Acting Chinese President Li Tsung-jen ends his term in office
- March 1 - Chiang Kai-shek resumes his duties as Chinese president after moving his government to Taipei, Taiwan
- March 3 - Poland states that it intends to exile all Germans.
- March 8 - The Soviet Union claims to have an atomic bomb.
- March 12-March 13 - In Belgium, the referendum over the monarchy shows 57.7% support the return of king Léopold III, 42.3% against.
- March 14 - Ship Cygnet hits mine off the Dutch coast.
- March 17 - University of California, Berkeley researchers announce the creation of element 98 which they have named "californium".
- March 20 - Government of Poland decides to confiscate the property of Polish church
- March 22 - Egypt demands that Britain remove all its troops in Suez Canal
- April 15 - King Léopold III of Belgium announces that he is ready to abdicate in favor of his son Baudouin
- April 24 - Jordan formally annexes West Bank
- April 27 - Apartheid: In South Africa, the Group Areas Act is passed formally segregating races.
- April 27 - Britain formally recognizes Israel

May-June


- May 6 - Tollund Man found
- May 9 - Robert Schuman presents his proposal on the creation of an organized Europe, indispensable to the maintenance of peaceful relations. This proposal, known as the "Schuman declaration", is considered to be the beginning of the creation of what is now the European Union.
- May 11 - Kefauver Committee hearings about US organized crime begin
- May 25 - Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel is formally opened to traffic
- May 29 - St. Roch, first ship to circumnavigate North America arrives in Halifax Nova Scotia.
- June 3 - First ascent of Annapurna I, 10th highest mountain in the world.
- June 6 - Turkey: The Adhan in Arabic is legalized
- June 8 - Sir Thomas Blamey becomes the only Field Marshal in Australian history.
- June 10 - French police capture escaped murderer Emile Buisson in Paris restaurant
- June 24 - 58 persons were killed when a commercial airliner crashed into Lake Michigan. The reason for the disaster is unknown. Only fragments of the plane and the bodies of passengers were ever found.
- June 25 - Beginning of Korean War. In the USA, people began to hoard supplies in case of rationing and shortages.
- June 25 - NSC-68 enacted by President Truman, setting US foreign policy for the next twenty years.
- June 28 - Korean War - North Korean forces capture Seoul
- June 29 - United States defeats England 1-0 in the . For more details, see England v United States (1950).

July


- July 5 - Sicilian bandit leader Salvatore Giuliano killed in a shootout with carabinieri
- July 5 - Korean War: Task Force Smith - First clash between American and North Korean forces.
- July 5 - Zionism: The Knesset passes the Law of Return which grants all Jews the right to immigrate to Israel.
- July 6 - East Germany agrees with Poland on the Oder-Neisse line - West Germany does not at this time
- July 16 - Uruguay beat Brazil 2-1 to win 1950 World Cup
- July 17 - Julius and Ethel Rosenberg arrested
- July 19 - 15 SS-men sentenced to death in East Germany
- July 20 - Tydings committee report to US senate denounces Joe McCarthy - he begins a public attack on members of the committee standing for election in 1950
- July 20 - In Belgium, the United Chambers adopt a decree which reinstates King Léopold III in his royal dignity.
- July 23 - King Léopold III of Belgium returns to Brussels
- July 24 - Hoax by J. Bam Morrison begins the tradition of "Sucker Day" in Wetumka, Oklahoma
- July 25 - Walter Ulbricht elected the general secretary of the communist party of East Germany
- July 28 - In Belgium, demonstrations and strikes break out as a result of King Léopold III's return. In Liège, three labourers are shot.

August-September


- August 5 - Florence Chadwick swims over English Channel in 13 hours, 22 minutes
- August 5 - A bomb-laden B-29 Superfortress crashes into a residential area in California. 17 dead, 68 injured.
- August 6 - Riot in Brussels in monarchist demonstrations
- August 8 - Winston Churchill supports idea of pan-European army allied with Canada and USA
- August 15 - Earthquake and floods in Assam, India - 574 deaths, 5,000,000 believed homeless
- September 1 - Hungarian major general Laszlo Viragen defects to Austria and applies for political asylum
- September 4 - Beetle Bailey comic strip started.
- September 7 - Coal mine collapses in New Cumnock, Scotland - 13 miners dead. 116 rescued.
- September 7 - The gameshow Truth or Consequences debuts on television.
- September 12 - Communist riots in Berlin
- September 13 - First main-line diesel-electric locomtives run in Australia
- September 15 - Allied troops land in Inchon, occupied by North Korea, to begin the Battle of Inchon.
- September 19 - West Germany decides to fire all its communist officials
- September 26 - Indonesia admitted to the United Nations

October


- October 1 - The comic strip Peanuts by Charles M. Schulz is first published in seven US newspapers.
- October 3 - Getúlio Dornelles Vargas, elected president of Brazil, for a five-year term.
- October 5 - Indonesian government quells riots in the Moluccas
- October 11 - The Federal Communications Commission issues the first license to broadcast television in color, to CBS (RCA will successfully dispute and block the license from taking effect, however).
- October 15 - In East Germany, communists win 99.7% of the vote
- October 20 - Australia passes the Communist Party Dissolution Act, later struck down by the High Court.
- October - Sister Mary Teresa begins her charity work in Calcutta and becomes known as Mother Teresa

November


- November 1 - Pope Pius XII defines a new dogma of Roman Catholicism: that God assumed Mary's body into Heaven after her death.
- November 1 - Puerto Rican nationalists Griselio Torresola and Oscar Collazo attempt to assassinate US President Harry S. Truman, who is staying at the Blair-Lee House in Washington, D.C. during White House repairs.
- November 4 - United Nations ends the diplomatic isolation of Spain
- November 8 - Korean War: While in an F-80, United States Air Force Lt. Russell J. Brown intercepts two North Korean MiG-15s near the Yalu River and shots them down in the first jet-to-jet dogfight in history.
- November 11 - The Mattachine Society founded in Los Angeles as the first Gay liberation organization
- November 13 - Colonel Carlos Delgado Chalbaud is kidnapped and murdered in Caracas.
- November 18 - United Nations accepts the formation of Libyan national council
- November 20 - T. S. Eliot speaks against television in the UK
- November 22 - Anti-British riots in Egypt
- November 22 - Shirley Temple announces her retirement from show business
- November 23 - George Robb was born in Aylth, Scotland
- November 26 - Korean War: Troops from the People's Republic of China move into North Korea and launch a massive counterattack against South Korean and American forces, ending any thought of a quick end to the conflict.
- November 28 - Greece and Yugoslavia reform diplomatic relations
- November 29 - Korean War: North Korean and Chinese troops force a desperate retreat of United Nations forces from North Korea.
- November 30 - Truman threatens to use nuclear weapons in Korea

December


- December 3 - Etna volcano erupts in Sicily
- December 12 - Paula Ackerman becomes the first woman in the United States to serve a congregation as a Rabbi, a few weeks after the death of her husband.
- December 24-December 25 - Scottish nationalists take the Stone of Scone from Westminster Abbey
- December 28 - The Peak District becomes Britain's first National Park.

Unknown date


- Ralph Schneider founds Diners Club - it initially only works in 27 restaurants in New York City.
- United Nations building finished.
- First pagers developed.
- Antihistamine discovered.
- First TV remote control, Zenith Radio's Lazy Bones is marketed.
- IBM Israel begins operating in Tel Aviv
- Japanese soldier Yuichi Akitsu surrenders in the Philippines
- President Harry Truman sends United States military personnel to Vietnam to aid French forces.
- National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA founded.

Births

January-February


- January 12 - Sheila Jackson Lee, American politician
- January 16 - Debbie Allen, American actress, dancer, and choreographer
- January 18 - Gilles Villeneuve, Canadian race car driver
- January 21 - Billy Ocean, West Indian-born musician
- January 23 - Richard Dean Anderson, American actor
- January 24 - Benjamin Urrutia, Ecuadoran author and scholar
- January 29 - Jody Scheckter, South African race car driver
- February 3 - Morgan Fairchild, American actress
- February 4 - Pamela Franklin, British actress
- February 6 - Natalie Cole, American singer
- February 10 - Mark Spitz, American swimmer
- February 12 - Michael Ironside, American actor
- February 13 - Peter Gabriel, British musician
- February 16 - Peter Hain, British politician
- February 18 - John Hughes, American film director, producer, and writer
- February 20 - Ken Shimura, Japanese television performer and actor
- February 22 - Julius Erving, American basketball player
- February 22 - Julie Walters, English actress
- February 22 - Miou-Miou, French actress
- February 22 - Ellen Greene, American actress
- February 25 - Neil Jordan, Irish film director, writer, and producer
- February 25 - Néstor Kirchner, President of Argentina
- February 26 - Helen Clark, Prime Minister of New Zealand

March-April


- March 2 - Karen Carpenter, American singer and drummer (d. 1983)
- March 4 - Rick Perry, Governor of Texas
- March 9 - Doug Ault, baseball player (d. 2004)
- March 9 - Danny Sullivan, American race car driver
- March 11 - Bobby McFerrin, American singer
- March 11 - Jerry Zucker, American film producer, director, and writer
- March 13 - William H. Macy, American actor
- March 18 - Brad Dourif, American actor
- March 20 - William Hurt, American actor
- March 26 - Teddy Pendergrass, American singer
- March 29 - Bud Cort, American actor
- March 30 - Robbie Coltrane, British actor and comedian
- April 3 - Sally Thomsett, British actress
- April 4 - Christine Lahti, American actress
- April 5 - Agnetha Fältskog, Swedish singer and songwriter (ABBA)
- April 10 - Ken Griffey, Sr., baseball player
- April 12 - Kari Palaste, Finnish architect
- April 22 - Peter Frampton, English musician
- April 25 - Lenora Branch Fulani, American Presidential candidate
- April 28 - Jay Leno, American comedian and talk show host
- April 29 - Paul Holmes , a radio and television broadcaster in New Zealand

May-September


- May 1 - Danny McGrain, Scottish footballer
- May 1 - Dann Florek, American actor
- May 3 - Howard Ashman, American lyricist (d. 1991)
- May 7 - Randall 'Tex' Cobb, American boxer and actor
- May 12 - Bruce Boxleitner, American actor
- May 12 - Gabriel Byrne, Irish actor
- May 13 - Stevie Wonder, American singer and musician
- May 16 - Johannes Georg Bednorz, German physicist, Nobel Prize laureate
- May 17 - Janez Drnovšek, Slovene politician
- May 17 - Valeria Novodvorskaya, Russian politician and dissident
- May 18 - Thomas Gottschalk, German television host
- May 18 - Rodney Milburn, American athlete (d. 1997)
- May 18 - Mark Mothersbaugh, American composer and musician (Devo)
- May 22 - Bernie Taupin, English songwriter
- May 22 - Mary Tamm, British actress
- June 1 - Tom Robinson, English singer and musician
- June 3 - Suzi Quatro, American singer and actress
- June 6 - John Byrne, American comic book creator
- July 18 - Sir Richard Branson, British entrepreneur
- July 18 - Glenn Hughes, American vocalist (d. 2001)
- July 19 - Per-Kristian Foss, Norwegian Minister of Finance
- August 11 - Gennidy Nikonov, Russian weapon designer
- August 14 - Bob Backlund, American professional wrestler
- August 15 - Anne, Princess Royal of England
- August 16 - Hasely Crawford, West Indian athlete
- August 27 - Charles Fleischer, American actor
- September 2 - Rosanna DeSoto, American actress
- September 14 - Paul Kossoff, British guitarist (Free) (d. 1976)
- September 17 - Narendra Modi, chief minister of Gujarat
- September 21 - Charles Clarke, British politician
- September 21 - Bill Murray, American actor and comedian
- September 28 - John Sayles director and screenwriter

October-December


- October 1 - Randy Quaid, American actor
- October 5 - Jeff Conaway, American actor
- October 9 - Jody Williams, American teacher and aid worker, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize
- October 12 - Kaga Takeshi, Japanese actor
- October 22 - Bill Owens, Governor of Colorado
- October 28 - Sihem Bensedrine, Tunisian human rights activist
- October 31 - John Candy, American comedian and actor
- October 31 - Jane Pauley, American television broadcaster and journalist
- November 1 - Robert B. Laughlin, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate
- November 21 - Alberto Juantorena, Cuban athlete
- November 22 - Lyman Bostock, baseball player (d. 1978)
- November 28 - Russell Alan Hulse, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate
- December 1 - Keith Thibodeaux, American actor and musician
- December 5 - Camarón de la Isla, Spanish singer (d. 1992)
- December 18 - Leonard Maltin, American film critic
- December 23 - Michael C. Burgess, American politician
- December 25 - Manny Trillo, baseball player

Unknown date


- Charles Lee Ray, American serial killer (d. 1988)

Deaths


- January 21 - George Orwell, English author (b. 1903)
- February 6 - Georges Imbert, Alsatian chemist (b. 1884)
- February 25 - George Minot, American physician, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1885)
- March 5 - Sid Grauman, American restaurateur (b. 1895)
- March 9 - Danny Sullivan, American race car driver
- March 19 - Walter Haworth, British chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1883)
- March 19 - Edgar Rice Burroughs, American author (b. 1875)
- March 24 - James Rudolph Garfield, U.S. politician (b. 1865)
- March 30 - Joe Yule, Scottish-born comedian (b. 1894)
- April 19 - Ernst Robert Curtius, Alsatian philologist (b. 1886)
- May 1 - Lothrop Stoddard, American eugenicist (b. 1883)
- May 9 - Esteban Terradas i Illa, Catalan mathematician, scientist, and engineer (b. 1883)
- May 10 - Belle da Costa Greene, American librarian, bibliographer, and archivist (b. 1883)
- July 22 - William Lyon Mackenzie King, Canadian politician (b. 1874)
- September 10 - Raymond Sommer, American race car driver (b. 1906)
- September 11 - Jan Christian Smuts, Prime Minister of South Africa (b. 1870)
- September 21 - Arthur Milne, British space physicist (b. 1896)
- October 23 - Al Jolson, American musician (b. 1886)
- October 29 - King Gustav V of Sweden (b. 1858)
- November 2 - George Bernard Shaw, Irish writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1856)
- November 3 - Koiso Kuniaki, Prime Minister of Japan (b. 1880)
- November 25 - Johannes Vilhelm Jensen, Danish writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1873)
- December 2 - Dinu Lipatti, Romanian pianist (b. 1917)
- December 5 - Shri Aurobindo, Indian guru (b. 1872)
- December 11 - Leslie Comrie, New Zealand astronomer and computing pioneer (b. 1893)
- December 27 - Max Beckmann, German painter (b. 1884)

Date unknown


- Ernest Cherrington, American temperance movement leader (b. 1877)
- William E. Johnson, American Anti-Saloon League leader (b. 1862)

Nobel Prizes


- Physics - Cecil Frank Powell
- Chemistry - Otto Paul Hermann Diels, Kurt Alder
- Medicine - Edward Calvin Kendall, Tadeus Reichstein, Philip Showalter Hench
- Literature - Earl (Bertrand Arthur William) Russell
- Peace - Ralph Bunche

Fields Medalists


- Laurent Schwartz, Atle Selberg Category:1950 ko:1950년 ms:1950 ja:1950年 simple:1950 th:พ.ศ. 2493

Chief Minister

A Chief Minister is the elected Head of Government of a state of India, a territory of Australia or a British overseas territory that has attained self-government. It is also used as the English version of the title given to the heads of governments of the Malay states without a monarchy. The title is also used in the Crown Dependency of the Isle of Man. In the other Crown Dependencies in the Channel Islands, the office of Chief Minister was introduced in Guernsey in 2004, while Jersey is expected to appoint its first Chief Minister following the 2005 elections. In Malaysia it is used to refer to the heads of government, called in their Malay language term Ketua Menteri (literally Chief Minister) constitutionally of the Malaysian states without a monarchy; Malacca, Penang, Sabah and Sarawak, while the Malay language term Menteri Besar (literally Great Minister) is used in other states with a monarch.
- Current Chief Ministers of India
- Chief Minister of Anguilla
- Chief Minister of the Australian Capital Territory
- Chief Minister of the British Virgin Islands
- Chief Minister of Guernsey
- Chief Minister of Gibraltar
- Chief Minister of Jersey
- Chief Minister of the Isle of Man
- Chief Minister of Montserrat
- Chief Minister of Norfolk Island
- Chief Minister of the Northern Territory of Australia
- Chief Minister of the State of Malacca, Malaysia
- Chief Minister of the State of Penang, Malaysia
- Chief Minister of the State of Sabah, Malaysia
- Chief Minister of the State of Sarawak, Malaysia
- Chief Minister of the Turks and Caicos Islands
- Incumbent Indian Chief Ministers
- Chief Ministers of Gujarat, India. Category:Government occupations

India

The Republic of India is a country in South Asia which comprises of the majority of the Indian subcontinent. India has a coastline which stretches over seven thousand kilometres, and shares its borders with Pakistan to the west, the People's Republic of China, Nepal, and Bhutan to the northeast, and Bangladesh and Myanmar on the east. On the Indian Ocean, it is adjacent to the island nations of the Maldives on the southwest, Sri Lanka on the south, and Indonesia on the southeast. India also claims a border with Afghanistan to the northwest. India is the fourth largest economy in the world in terms of purchasing power parity. It is the second most populous country in the world, with a population of over one billion, and is the seventh largest country by geographical area. It is home to some of the most ancient civilizations, and a centre of important historic trade routes. Four major world religions: Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism have originated from India. Formerly a major part of the British Empire as the British Raj before gaining independence in 1947, during the past twenty years the country has grown significantly, especially in its economic and military spheres, regionally as well as globally. The name India , is derived from the Old Persian version of Sindhu, the historic local appellation for the river Indus; see Origin of India's name. The Constitution of India and general usage also recognises Bharat ( ), which is derived from the Sanskrit name of an ancient Hindu king, whose story is to be found in the Mahabharata, as an official name of equal status. A third name, Hindustan ( ) , or Land of the Hindus in Persian, has been used since the twelfth century, though its contemporary use is unevenly applied due to domestic disputes over its representiveness as a national signifier.

History

Stone Age rock shelters with paintings at Bhimbetka in Madhya Pradesh are the earliest known traces of human life in India. The first known permanent settlements appeared 9,000 years ago and developed into the Indus Valley Civilisation, which peaked between 2600 BC and 1900 BC. It was followed by the Vedic Civilisation. From around 550 BC onwards, many independent kingdoms came into being. In the north, the Maurya dynasty, which included Ashoka, contributed greatly to India's cultural landscape. From 180 BC, a series of invasions from Central Asia followed, with the successive establishment in the northern Indian Subcontinent of the Indo-Greek, Indo-Scythian and Indo-Parthian kingdoms, and finally the Kushan Empire. From the 3rd century AD onwards the Gupta dynasty oversaw the period referred to as ancient India's "Golden Age". Gupta dynasty built by emperor Ashoka in the 3rd century BC]] In the south, several dynasties including the Chalukyas, Cheras, Cholas, Kadambas, Pallavas and Pandyas prevailed during different periods. Science, art, literature, mathematics, astronomy, engineering, religion and philosophy flourished under the patronage of these kings. Following the Islamic invasions in the beginning of the second millennium, much of north and central India came to be ruled by the Delhi Sultanate, and later, much of the entire subcontinent by the Mughal dynasty. Nevertheless, several indigenous kingdoms remained or rose to power, especially in the relatively sheltered south. Vijayanagara Empire was notable among such kingdoms. During the middle of the second millennium, several European countries, including the Portuguese, Dutch, French and British, who were initially interested in trade with India, took advantage of fractured kingdoms fighting each other to establish colonies in the country. After a failed insurrection in 1857 against the British East India Company, popularly known in India as the First War of Indian Independence and most commonly known in the West as the Indian Mutiny, most of India came under the direct administrative control of the crown of the British Empire. British Empire, Orissa built in the 13th century, is one of the most famous monuments of stone sculpture in the world.]] sculpture in the 10th century AD.]] In the early part of the 20th century, a prolonged and largely non-violent struggle for independence, the Indian independence movement, followed, to be eventually led by Mahatma Gandhi, regarded officially as the Father Of The Nation. The culmination of this path-breaking struggle was reached on 1947-08-15 when India gained full independence from British rule, later becoming a republic on 1950-01-26. As a multi-ethnic and multi-religious country, India has had its share of sectarian violence and insurgencies in different parts of the country. Nonetheless, it has held itself together as a secular, liberal democracy barring a brief period from 1975 to 1977 during which the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi declared a "state of emergency" with the suspension of civil rights. India has unresolved border disputes with China, which escalated into a brief war in 1962, and Pakistan which resulted in wars in 1947, 1965, and 1971, and a border altercation in the northern state of Kashmir in 1999. India was a founding member of the Non-Aligned Movement and the United Nations. In 1974, India conducted an underground nuclear test, making it an unofficial member of the "nuclear club", which was followed up with a series of five more tests in 1998. Significant economic reforms beginning in 1991 have transformed India into one of the fastest growing economies in the world and added to its global clout.

Government

The Constitution of India states India to be a sovereign, socialist, secular, democratic republic. India is a federal republic, with a bicameral parliament operating under a Westminster-style parliamentary system. It has a three branch system of governance consisting of the legislature, executive and judiciary. The President, who is the head of state, has a largely ceremonial role. His roles include interpreting the constitution, signing laws into action, and issuing pardons. He is also the Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces. The President and Vice-President are elected indirectly by an electoral college for five-year terms. The Prime Minister is the head of government and most executive powers are vested in this office. He (or she) is elected by legislators of the political party, or coalition, commanding a parliamentary majority, and serves a five-year term incumbent upon enjoying this majority. The constitution does not provide for a post of Deputy Prime Minister, but this option has been exercised from time to time. The legislature of India is the bicameral Parliament which consists of the upper house known as the Rajya Sabha, or Council of States, the lower house known as the Lok Sabha, or House of the People, and the President. The 245-member Rajya Sabha is chosen indirectly through an electoral college and has a staggered six year term. The 545-member Lok Sabha is directly elected for a five year term, and is the determinative constituent of political power and government formation. All Indian citizens above the age of eighteen are eligible to vote. The executive arm consists of the President, Vice-President and the Council of Ministers (the Cabinet) headed by the Prime Minister. Any minister holding a portfolio must be a member of either house of parliament. In India's parliamentary system, the executive is subordinate to the legislature. India's independent judiciary consists of the Supreme Court, headed by the Chief Justice of India. The Supreme Court has both original jurisdiction over disputes between states and the Centre, and appellate jurisdiction over the High Courts of India. There are eighteen appellate High Courts, having jurisdiction over a large state or a group of states. Each of these states has a tiered system of lower courts. A conflict between the legislature and the judiciary is referred to the President.

Politics

Chief Justice of India For most of its independent history, India's national government has been controlled by the Indian National Congress Party. Following its position as the largest political organisation in pre-independence India, Congress, usually led by a member of the Nehru-Gandhi family, dominated national politics for over forty years. In 1977, a united opposition, under the banner of the Janata Party, won the election and formed a non-Congress government for a short period after the unpopular 'emergency rule' imposed by Indira Gandhi in the previous Congress regime. In 1996, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), a political party with a right wing nationalist ideology, became the largest single party, and established for the first time a serious opposition to the largely centre-left Congress. But power was held by two successive coalition governments, who stayed on with the support of the Congress. In 1998, the BJP formed the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) along with smaller parties and became the first non-Congress government to sustain the full five year term after it returned to power in 1999. The decade prior to 1999 was marked by short-lasting governments, with seven separate governments formed within that period. One however, a Congress government formed in 1991, lasted the full five years and initiated significant economic reforms. In the 2004 Indian elections the Congress party returned to power after winning the largest number of seats, by a narrow margin. Congress formed a government in alliance with the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and with several mostly-regional parties called the United Progressive Alliance. The NDA, led by the BJP, currently forms the main opposition. All governments formed since 1996 have required party coalitions, with no single majority party, due to the steady rise of regional parties at the national level.

States and union territories

India is divided into twenty-eight states (which are further subdivided into districts), six Union Territories and the National Capital Territory of Delhi. States have their own elected government, whereas Union Territories are governed by an administrator appointed by the union government, though some have elected governments. India has had two scientific bases in Antarctica – the Dakshin Gangotri and Maitri, but has made no territorial claims so far.

Geography

Maitri in the north to Arunachal Pradesh in the far east making up most of India's eastern borders]] India's entire north and northeast states are made up of the Himalayan Range. The rest of northern, central and eastern India consists of the fertile Indo-Gangetic plain. Towards western India, bordering southeast Pakistan, lies the Thar Desert. The southern Indian peninsula is almost entirely composed of the Deccan plateau. The plateau is flanked by two hilly coastal ranges, the Western Ghats and Eastern Ghats. India is home to several major rivers such as the Ganga (Ganges), the Brahmaputra, the Yamuna, the Godavari, and the Krishna. The rivers are responsible for the fertile plains in northern India which are conducive to farming. The Indian climate varies from a tropical climate in the south to a more temperate climate in the north. Parts of India which lie in the Himalaya have a tundra climate. India gets most of its rains through the monsoons.

Economy

monsoon India has an economy ranked as the tenth largest in the world in terms of currency conversion and fourth largest in terms of purchasing power parity. It recorded one of the fastest annual growth rates of 6.9% for the year ending March 2005. India's per-capita income by purchasing power parity is US$ 3,262, ranked 125th by the World Bank. India's foreign exchange reserves amount to over US$ 143 billion. Mumbai serves as the nation's financial capital and is also home to both the headquarters of the Reserve Bank of India and the pre-eminent Bombay Stock Exchange. While a quarter of Indians still live below the poverty line, a large middle class has now emerged along with the rapid growth of the IT industry. The Indian economy has shed much of its historical dependence on agriculture, which now contributes to less than 25 % of GDP. Other important industries are mining, petroleum, diamond polishing, films, textiles, information technology services, and handicrafts. Most of India's industrial regions are centred around major cities. In recent years, India has emerged as one of the largest players in software and business process outsourcing services, with revenues of US$ 17.2 billion in 2004 to 2005. Many small-scale industries provide steady employment to workers in small towns and villages. business process outsourcing While India receives only around three million foreign visitors a year, tourism is still an important but under-developed source of national income. Tourism contributes 5.3 % of India's GDP. The actual employment generation, both direct and indirect, is estimated to be 42 million, or about 10 % of India's work force. In monetary terms, it contributes about US$4 billion in foreign exchange. India's major trading partners are the United States, Japan, China and the United Arab Emirates. India's main exports items include agricultural products, textile goods, gems and jewellry, software services and technology, engineering goods, chemicals and leather products while its main import commodities are crude oil, machinery, gems, fertiliser, chemicals. For the year 2004, India's total exports stood at US$ 69.18 billion while the imports were worth at US $89.33 billion.

Demographics

India is the second most populous country in the world, with only China having a larger population. By 2030, India is expected to surpass China with the world's largest population, estimated at 1.6 billion. Language, religion, and caste are major determinants of social and political organisation within the highly diverse Indian population today. Its biggest metropolitan agglomerations are Mumbai (formerly Bombay), Delhi, Kolkata (formerly Calcutta) and Chennai (formerly Madras). Chennai]] India's literacy rate is 64.8 % with 53.7 % of females and 75.3 % of males being literate. The sex ratio is 933 females for every 1000 males. Work Participation Rate (WPR) (the percentage of workers to total population) stands at 39.1 % with male WPR at 51.7 % and female WPR at 25.6 % inote|eu{inote|demostats{inote|religion{ref|languages{inote|tongues{see2|Christianity in India|Jews in India{seealso3|List of Indian languages by total speakers|List of cities in India|Religion in India{main|Culture of India{seealso4|List of World Heritage sites in India|Indian architecture|Indian family name|Cuisine of India{main|Sports in India{main|Holidays in India{Official Holidays of India{Topics related to India{portal{sisterlinks|India{wikitravel{wikicities|india|India{explain-inote{Web reference | title=India facts and figures | work=Embassy of India| URL= http://www.indianembassy.org/dydemo/indiaprofile/profile.htm | date=August 14 | year=2005{Web reference | title= Forex reserves up by $1bn | work=Economic Times| URL= http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1093864.cms | date=August 14 | year=2005{Web reference | title= India Economy | work=Travel Document Systems |URL= http://www.traveldocs.com/in/economy.htm | date=August 14 | year=2005{Web reference | title= Services | work=India in Business| URL= http://www.indiainbusiness.nic.in/india-profile/ser-infotech.htm | date=August 14 | year=2005{Web reference | title= Destination India: An Unpolished Diamond | work=Times of India | URL= http://timesfoundation.indiatimes.com/articleshow/819309.cms | date=August 14 | year=2005{Web reference | title= US, UAE, UK, China, Japan among India's top trade partners | work=Indian Express| URL= http://www.indianexpress.com/news/business/20050102-0.html | date=August 14 | year=2005{Web reference | title= CIA Factbook : India | work=CIA Factbook | URL= http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/in.html | date=August 14 | year=2005{Web reference | title= Provisional Population Totals 2001 Census| work=Census of India| URL=http://www.censusindia.net/results/resultsmain.html | date=August 14 | year=2005{Web reference | title= Debating India & India's literacy rate | work=Debating India | URL= http://india.eu.org/1963.html | date=August 14 | year=2005{Web reference | title= India – Country profiles | work=indexmundi.com | URL= http://www.indexmundi.com/India/ India | date=August 14 | year=2005{Web reference | title= Census of India 2001, Data on Religion | work=Census of India | URL= http://www.censusindia.net/results/religion_main.html | date=August 14 | year=2005{Web reference | title= Languages of India | work=India image | URL= http://indiaimage.nic.in/languages.htm| date=August 14 | year=2005{Book reference | Author=K.M. Matthew | Title=Manorama Yearbook 2003 | Publisher= Malaya Manorama | Year=2003 | ID=ISBN 8190046187{mnb|afgh|1{mnb|LoC|2{South Asia{Asia{Commonwealth of Nations{SAARC{Life in India{Link FA|sv{Link FA|sv

BJP

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), literally meaning Indian People's Party, created in 1980, is today one of the largest national political parties in India. It claims to be a champion of socio-religious cultural values of the country's Hindu majority, conservative social policies and strong national defense. It finds its primary base of support in the urban and semi-urban middle class, business and merchant classes and religious and social conservatives. Its constituency is strengthened by the broad umbrella of Hindu nationalist organizations, informally known as the Sangh Parivar (Family of "Sangh" organizations), where the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh play a leading role. Throughout its existance the main opponent of BJP has been the Indian National Congress. The BJP has allied with regional cultural forces to roll back the centralising tendencies formerly endorsed by the Congress Party, which dominated central government for four decades. The ideological rallying cry of the BJP is Hindutva, literally "Hinduness," or cultural Hindu nationalism. BJP led the Government of India between 1998 and 2004, under Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Deputy Prime Minister Lal Krishna Advani, its most senior leaders. However, it has done so as the leading party within the National Democratic Alliance, of which it remains a part even today, and leads the opposition. It has never won a parliamentary majority by itself.

History

Origins

The Bharatiya Jana Sangh (Indian People's Union) was founded in 1952 by Syama Prasad Mookerjee, a Bengali Hindu nationalist leader, former Union Minister and freedom-fighter. It was considered the political wing of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, a mass public Hindu nationalist organization. But the fortunes of the young party floundered in 1953, when Mookherjee died in Kashmir in jail during a protest. BJS lasted for 24 more years, but never succeeded in winning control of any state or more than a small share of the seats of the Union Parliament. It could never challenge the Indian National Congress, leader of the nation's freedom movement for a political majority, and always had to contend with lesser socialist parties for second and third places. However, the party nourished future leaders who were seasoned with tough political experiences, like the future Prime Minister, the Atal Bihari Vajpayee. When Indira Gandhi imposed a state of emergency in 1975, postponing elections and exercising major central powers granted by the Constitution for emergency situations, the BJS joined a coalition of opposition parties in active protest. Several of its leaders were arrested, including Vajpayee. But when Gandhi called elections in 1977, the BJS invested all its political and organizational capital in merging into the new Janata Party, a unified opposition party. A mixture of socialist, regionalists, and former Congressmen, the party was united in opposition to the Emergency and Indira Gandhi. The Janata Party defeated Indira Gandhi's Congress Party in a landslide victory and formed a government under Morarji Desai's Premiership in 1977. Vajpayee, the most senior BJS leader became Minister for External Affairs, responsible for foreign policy. His close friend and political comrade Lal Krishna Advani became the Minister for Information and Broadcasting. The Janata Party government lasted for barely 2 years, and following its collapse, Indira Gandhi's Congress returned in a thunderous landslide victory. When the Janata Party imploded, the nucleus of the BJS reorganised themselves.

Early years

The BJP was founded in December 1980, under the direct leadership of the dumvirate of Vajpayee and Advani. In 1984 Lok Sabha elections, where the Congress Party won a massive landslide following Indira Gandhi's assassination, the BJP obtained only 2 seats out of 543. But in the 1989 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP won 88. It supported the Janata Dal-led coalition of V.P. Singh, but from the outside. That government too collapsed in less than two years. In the 1991 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP became the premier Opposition party, and the Congress government was a coalition one. In 1996, the BJP became the single-largest political party in Parliament, with the Congress at its lowest ever. The President of India, Dr. Shankar Dayal Sharma, appointed A.B. Vajpayee as Prime Minister and the BJP worked to foster a coalition that could command a majority in the Lok Sabha, but the opponents of BJP were able to rally a majority and Vajpayee had to resign after only 13 days in power. Instead, a broad centre-left coalition government was formed.

The First BJP Government

Lok Sabha elections were again held in 1998, and the BJP again won the largest bloc of seats. This time, the BJP formed the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) with allied political parties. NDA had a slim majority, and A.B. Vajpayee returned as Prime Minister. But the coalition ruptured in May 1999, and fresh elections were again called. On October 13 1999, the BJP-led NDA won as many as 303 seats. The BJP won an all-time high of 183. Vajpayee won his third-term as Prime Minister, and L.K. Advani became the Deputy Prime Minister and held the Home Ministry. This NDA Government lasted for its full 5 years.

The Second BJP Government (1998-2004)

Under Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, the new Government sent the country bursting into the new era, with the 5 nuclear tests at Pokhran, in Rajasthan in 1998, making Bharat a new-age nuclear power with a considerable weapons arsenal and technology. The Vajpayee administration also oversaw the country's defenses during the Kargil conflict, where thousands of soldiers, with artillery, aircraft and extremely dangerous assaults and operations, recovered strategic hills from Pakistani militants who had occupied and incursed into the Indian side of the Line of Control. The BJP-led National Democratic Alliance passed the Prevention of Terrorism Act in 2002, a stringent law increasing the powers of police authorities and intelligence agencies in an effort to destroy subversive political activities and terrorism. The POTA was promulgated chiefly in response to the December 13 2001 terrorist attacks on the Union Parliament. Vajpayee and his economic team also pushed through major privatizations of big government corporations, the Freedom of Information Act, the liberalization of trade rules, free trade, opening the skies to commercial airlines, foreign investment and ownership and developed "Special Economic Zones" where industries could enjoy special infrastructure. The Government specially catered to the rising Information Technology industry, and lowered taxes for middle-class Indians and businesses. Vajpayee's Golden Quadrilateral road system was developed to link the four corners of the nation with heavy, industrial roads, and improve surface transport in the country as such. His education programs boosted the enrollment of children into primary schools, expanded aid for schools and pushed new-age technologies to improve schooling. The Vajpayee administration presided over the biggest and longest-sustained economic boom in the country's history, starting in late 2002. Record increases in agricultural and industrial production were matched by hungry middle-class consumers, and increasing foreign trade and investment. In 2004, the Government signed the South Asia Free Trade Agreement with Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Sri Lanka and the Maldives, a decision that will vastly benefit over 1.6 billion people. Vajpayee was single-handedly responsible for three monumental efforts to build peaceful relations with Pakistan. In 1999, he rode on the Delhi-Lahore bus inaugural, and signed the Lahore Declaration with the Pakistani PM, committing Bharat to peace. Despite the betrayal to come 3 months later in Kargil, Vajpayee in 2001 invited the military ruler, Pervez Musharaff to Delhi, though the summit failed with no result. And despite the terrorist attacks that froze relations for two and a half years, Vajpayee, in a stunning and emotive speech to Parliament in August 2004, spoke of his "absolute last attempt of my life" to foster peace with Pakistan, de-freezing relations and invoking praise from world leaders. The BJP was severely discredited by the 2002 Gujarat riots, where the Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi of the BJP was accused of protecting murderous Hindu mobs and obstructing the work of police to stop the anti-Muslim violence. Many BJP activists and some MLAs were involved in orchestrating the violence. Over 2,000 people were killed and tens of thousands displaced in the carnage. The BJP's hard-right wing attempted to defend and justify Modi's leadership, while the moderate wing was deeply embarrassed and weakened by the effects of the fiasco on the party's image and its efforts to woo Muslim voters. The 2000 Tehelka scam severely affected the credibility of the NDA, while the chargesheeting of L.K. Advani and others in the Babri Mosque demolition case in 2003 proved a further embarrassment.

After the 2004 General Election

The BJP and the NDA suffered a defeat in the general elections in 2004, and failed to muster a parliamentary majority. A.B. Vajpayee passed on the premiership to Dr. Manmohan Singh of the Congress Party, and its United Progressive Alliance. The defeat was incomprehensible to many political analysts, who assumed that the BJP would win on the basis of Vajpayee's widespread popularity, the national economic boom and the revival of the peace process with Pakistan. Following the defeat, the was a perception amongst parts of the party cadre that the party had expected victory to come easy and thus volunteers of the organisation had not worked hard enough to canvass voters and recruit supporters, and that the political campaign of BJP had remained confined to television and radio. Faced with inter-alliance tensions, and quibbling amongst its younger, second-tier leadership, the BJP agreed to call on Lal Krishna Advani to assume the presidency and lead the party and the NDA in Parliament. Vajpayee was elected Chairman of the NDA, an honorary role but clearly indicative of his diminishing role in the future of the party. In June 2005, Advani's presidency was questioned by some after he made comments praising founding-father of Pakistan, Mohammed Ali Jinnah as a "secular" leader. On a visit to Pakistan to transform his image from a hardliner to a peacenik in the Vajpayee mold, Advani invited a storm of criticism from the Hindu nationalist base of the party, and for several weeks lost control amidst fiery calls for his resignation. His resignation was given and retracted, and a public clarification of his comments announced. Mohammed Ali Jinnah.]]

Hindu Nationalism

The BJP is a nationalist party. It sees itself as rising to the defence of indigenous culture, Indian religious systems like Hinduism, Jainism, Sikhism and Buddhism. To many Hindu nationalists, Bharat is a Hindu Rashtra, literally a Hindu nation. According to BJP, this definition does not exclude Muslims, Christians and other minorities. Hindu Rashtra is portrayed as cultural nationalism and Hinduism as an entire systems of faith and worship, culture and history that have developed in India over the past 5,000 years. In the political language of Hindu nationalists, all the peoples of India, their cultures and heritage are "Hindu," which literally means "inhabitant of the land of the river Sindhu," the modern-day Indus. The BJP has been accused of being a xenophobic, racist and fascist organization by its opponents. Its supporters, on the other hand, argue that it is a conservative, nationally-oriented party and does not wish to polarise the country on communal (religious) grounds. The life and work of the BJP is seen by many as strongly influenced by the Partition of India in 1947. The partition was traumatic legacy for most religious communities in India. A massive section of Hindus and Sikhs from the areas that became Pakistan had to flee to India. During the chaos surrounding Partition, over 1 million Hindus, Sikhs and Muslims were killed in religious violence and had to flee either to India or Pakistan in the wake of horrendous carnage. The trauma of midnight evacuations of ancestral homes, and being forced to wade through murderous violence, chaos and confusion to despair and helplessness in a different land which became their home, has struck deep in the veins of Hindu nationalists. Another important factor in the ideological construction of the ideology of BJP is the ongoing territorial dispute over Jammu and Kashmir and the wars of 1947-48, 1962, 1965, and 1971 and recently the 1999 Kargil War. BJP and its followers feel they must remain viligant against threats from Pakistan, China and others. The BJP has often been accused of participation in religious violence and using religiously sensitive issues for political advantage. These accusations, some backed by facts have tarnished the image of BJP in the eyes of many Indians, Hindus and Muslims alike. Many journalists and observers feel that the BJP is a fascist organization, and has a clear anti-Muslim bias. However the BJP does have prominent Muslims in positions of leadership like Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi and the late Sikandar Bakht. BJP has certain demands and actions to its credit that are explicitly controversial, and which are considered as fomenting communal tensions. The Ram Janmbhoomi Mandir in Ayodhya is probably the most important of such issues. Claims are made that Muslim invaders destroyed an ancient temple in the city of Ayodhya in medieval times. Supposedly built on its head was the Babri Mosque. The Vishwa Hindu Parishad in the 1970s inaugurated an organized campaign to re-build the Hindu temple there. But only because the site was supposedly considered the birthplace of Lord Rama of the Ramayana, the epic hero-God of Hindus, the most popular incarnation of the Supreme Lord Vishnu. For two decades, the protests were peaceful. But in the late 1980s, the issue turned more controversial than ever. The VHP began demanded a direct demolition of the mosque, and the BJP embraced the issue as its own. The Ram temple having become a major demand of the BJP, its activists joined the ranks of protestors, and many major party rallies were held in Ayodhya. The emotive strength of this issue, was one of the most important factors in BJP winning the state assembly elections in the most populous state of India, Uttar Pradesh, in 1991 and rose to national prominence. But on December 3 1992, a parade of protestors burst upon the mosque and tore it down with pickaxes and shovels. The rally was being led by Lal Krishna Advani. The BJP leader and many senior VHP and RSS leaders were close by, giving the strong impression that the destruction was pre-planned. And across the country, violent mobs broke loose, killing over 10,000 people, mainly Muslims, in orgies of anger, murder, looting and burning. In the aftermath of the communal violence, many sectors felt that the secular fabric of India was threatened. The VHP was banned and Advani of BJP was arrested amongst others. Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi are two BJP leaders on a CBI chargesheet for the destruction. But the political growth of BJP continued rapidly.

Organisation

The rank-and-file leadership of BJP largely derives from the cadre of the RSS, which has millions of affiliates. It also maintains close links to other Sangh Parivar organisations, such as Vishwa Hindu Parishad and Swadeshi Jagran Manch (an organisation promoting consumption of domestic goods). Mass organisations associated with the BJP include:
- Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (All-India Students' Council)
- Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (Indian Popular Youth Front)
- Bharatiya Kisan Sangh (India Peasants' Union)
- Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (Indian Workers' Union)
- BJP Mahila Morcha (Indian Popular Women's Front) Outside of India, BJP followers have formed the 'Overseas Friends of BJP'.

Policies

The core agenda of BJP is inspired chiefly by Hindu nationalism. Though not in order of importance, the chief goals of BJP may be summarized as follows: (1)The Repeal of Article 370 of the Constitution, which grants a special status to Muslim-majority state of Jammu and Kashmir and prevents Indian citizens from settling in the state, in an effort to protect its Muslim-majority. (2)The Promulgation of a Uniform Common Civil Code, which create only one personal and civil law code for Hindus, Muslims and Christians, who enjoy the privilege of having law codes tailored to their religious culture over personal and family matters. In the minds of BJP supporters, this system creates a sense of division in the country between religious communities. (3)A Ban on Cow Slaughter, to honor the Hindu tradition of deeming cows and most cattle as sacred, and prohibiting the consumption of beef and pork. (4)The Ban on Religious Conversions, to prevent Islamic and Christian missionaries from converting Hindus. The BJP argues that it has become virtually impossible to distinguish forcible incidents of conversion from personal choice, and the BJP considers it important to protect the Hindu majority from the political agendas of prosletising Muslim and Christian groups. (5)The Construction of the Ram Janmbhoomi Mandir in Ayodhya. (6)To achieve the full territorial and political integration of Jammu and Kashmir with India. Presently over 40% of the territory is under the control of Pakistan and China. The BJP stands for strong national defense, small government and free-market economic policies, but Hindutva has been its core philosophy and identity ever since its inception.

Office Bearers

President


- Lal Krishna Advani - 2004-(December 30, 2005)

Former Presidents


- Venkaiah Naidu - 2002-2004
- Jana Krishnamurthy - 2001-2002
- Bangaru Laxman - 2000-2001
- Kushabhau Thakre - 1998-2000
- Lal Krishna Advani - 1993-1998
- Murli Manohar Joshi - 1991-1993
- Atal Bihari Vajpayee - 1980-1986

General Secretaries


- Pramod Mahajan
- Rajnath Singh
- Arun Jaitley
- Ananth Kumar
- Sanjay Joshi
- Om prakash Mathur
- Sushma Swaraj
- Uma Bharati

Treasurer


- Ved Prakash Goyal

BJP in the States

As of 2005, the BJP rules the Indian States of Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, and the states of Bihar, Jharkhand and Orissa through its National Democratic Alliance partners. The BJP has traditionally done well and has a strong base of support in Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Haryana, Goa Karnataka and Himachal Pradesh. It does well in mainly Hindi-speaking, northern states and states where the population's culture and life is religious and conservative.

Andhra Pradesh

In Andhra Pradesh BJP plays the role of a junior partner of the regional Telugu Desam Party. The history of that relationship is rather short, as the TDP prior to the NDA coming to power at the centre denounced the BJP as a communal party. TDP never formally joined the NDA government, but supported it from outside. In the 2004 Lok Sabha and state assembly elections, which were held simultaneously, the TDP-BJP combine fared badly. BJP had launched nine candidates for Lok Sabha, but none got elected. In the state assembly elections the BJP had 29 candidates, but only two (Dorababu Pendem and G. Kishan Reddy) were elected. The most well-known BJP leader from Andhra Pradesh is Venkaiah Naidu, national president of BJP 2002-2004.

Arunachal Pradesh

The history of BJP in Arunachal Pradesh is somewhat special, as the party rose to prominence through rapid parliamentary shifts. In the 1999 Lok Sabha election, BJP had contested in alliance with the Arunachal Congress. AC contested the western seat and BJP the eastern seat. Tapir Gao of BJP came second with 36.45% of the votes in the eastern seat. On August 30 2003 the Chief Minister of the state, Gegong Apang, joined the party along with him all 41 members of the Arunachal Pradesh assembly from his United Democratic Front (including the Congress (Dolo)). Thus BJP formed the government in a North-Eastern state for the first time. In the May 2004 Lok Sabha elections, BJP contested both seats. Khiren Rijiju got 55.95% of the votes in Arunachal West and Tapir Gao got 51% in Arunachal West. In the state assembly elections in October same year, BJP contested 39 out of the 60 seats. However, Apang and his followers had rejoined Congress shortly ahead of the elections. Nine BJP members, including Deputy Chief Minister Kameng Dolo, got elected to the assembly.

Assam

In Assam BJP used to be allied to the Asom Gana Parishad, but that link was broken ahead of the 2004 elections. BJP contested 12 out of 14 seats. In one seat it supported NDA ally JD(U) and in Kokrajhar it supported the Bodo nationalist independent candidate, Sansuma Khunggur Bwiswmuthiary. BJP won two seats.

Bihar

In Bihar the BJP is allied to the Janata Dal (United). The main strength of the party is amongst upper-caste Hindus, and the alliance with JD(U) is essential for the party to garner a larger vote-base. In rural areas of Bihar, where social struggles are often intense, BJP leaders are often linked to local landlords.

List of BJP MPs in the 14th Lok Sabha

1 Advani, Lal Krishna - Gandhinagar (Gujarat) 2 Ahir, Hansraj Gangaram - Chandrapur (Maharashtra) 3 Ajgalley, Guharam - Sarangarh (SC) (Chhattisgarh) 4 Ananth Kumar - Bangalore South (Karnataka) 5 Angadi, Suresh Chanabasappa - Belgaum (Karnataka) 6 Argal, Ashok - Morena (SC) (Madhya Pradesh) 7 Bais, Ramesh - Raipur (Chhattisgarh) 8 Bangaru, Susheela Laxman - Jalore (SC) (Rajasthan) 9 Bhagora, Mahavir - Salumber (ST) (Rajasthan) 10 Bhargav, Girdhari Lal - Jaipur (Rajasthan) 11 Bisen, Gauri Shankar Chaturbhuj - Balaghat (Madhya Pradesh) 12 Bishnoi, Jaswant Singh - Jodhpur (Rajasthan) 13 Borkataky, Narayan Chandra - Mangaldoi (Assam) 14 Chandel, Suresh - Hamirpur (Himachal Pradesh) 15 Channappa, Kunnur Manjunath - Dharwad South (Karnataka) 16 Chaubey, Lalmuni - Buxar (Bihar) 17 Chaudhary, Pankaj - Maharajganj (Uttar Pradesh) 18 Chauhan, Nihal Chand - Ganganagar (SC) (Rajasthan) 19 Chauhan, Nand Kumar Singh - Khandwa (Madhya Pradesh) 20 Chavan, Harischandra Deoram - Malegaon (ST) (Maharashtra) 21 Chhatwal, Sartaj Singh - Hoshangabad (Madhya Pradesh) 22 Choudhary, Nikhil Kumar - Katihar (Bihar) 23 Chouhan, Shivraj Singh - Vidisha (Madhya Pradesh) 24 Dangawas, Bhanwar Singh - Nagaur (Rajasthan) 25 Danve, Raosaheb Patil - Jalna (Maharashtra) 26 Darbar, Chhatar Singh - Dhar (ST) (Madhya Pradesh) 27 Deo, Bikram Keshari - Kalahandi (Orissa) 28 Deshmukh, Subhash Sureshchandra - Solapur (Maharashtra) 29 Dharmendra - Bikaner (Rajasthan) 30 Dhotre, Sanjay Shamrao - Akola (Maharashtra) 31 Diler, Kishan Lal - Hathras (SC) (Uttar Pradesh) 32 Gaddigoudar, P.C. - Bagalkot (Karnataka) 33 Gadhavi, Pushpdan Shambhudan - Kutch (Gujarat) 34 Gandhi, Maneka - Pilibhit (Uttar Pradesh) 35 Gandhi, Pradeep - Rajnandgaon (Chhattisgarh) 36 Gangwar, Santosh Kumar - Bareilly (Uttar Pradesh) 37 Gao, Tapir - Arunachal East (Arunachal Pradesh) 38 Gehlot, Thaawar Chand - Shajapur (SC) (Madhya Pradesh) 39 Gohain, Rajen - Nowgong (Assam) 40 Gowda, D.V. Sadananda - Mangalore (Karnataka) 41 Hegde, Anant Kumar - Kanara (Karnataka) 42 Jain, Pusp - Pali (Rajastha