The Bharatiya Janata Party is a political party in India and one of the two major Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. Since 2014, it has been the ruling political party in India under the incumbent Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The BJP is aligned with right-wing politics and has close ideological and organisational links to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) volunteer paramilitary organisation. Its policies adhere to Hindutva, a Hindu nationalist ideology. As of January 2024, it is the country's biggest political party in terms of representation in the Parliament of India as well as state legislatures.
Uma Bharti is an Indian politician and former Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh. She became involved with the Bharatiya Janata Party at a young age, unsuccessfully contesting her first parliamentary elections in 1984. In 1989, she successfully contested the Khajuraho seat, and retained it in elections conducted in 1991, 1996 and 1998. In 1999, she switched constituencies and won the Bhopal seat.
Dr. Murli Manohar Joshi is an Indian politician. He is a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of which he was the President between 1991 and 1993. Joshi is the former Member of Parliament from Kanpur Lok Sabha constituency. He is a former professor of physics in University of Allahabad. He is one of the senior most leaders of the BJP and one of the founding members. Joshi later became the Union Human Resources & Development Minister in the National Democratic Alliance government. Joshi was awarded Padma Vibhushan, the second-highest civilian award, in 2017 by the Government of India. Joshi has been a member of RSS since his college days.
Ram Vilas Paswan was an Indian politician from Bihar and the Cabinet Minister of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution in the first and second Modi ministries. Paswan was also the president of the Lok Janshakti Party, nine-times Lok Sabha member and two-time Rajya Sabha MP. He started his political career as member of Samyukta Socialist Party and was elected to the Bihar Legislative Assembly in 1969. Later, Paswan joined Lok Dal upon its formation in 1974, and became its general secretary. He opposed the emergency, and was arrested during this period. He first entered the Lok Sabha in 1977, as a Janata Party member from Hajipur constituency, and was elected again in 1980, 1989, 1991, 1996, 1998, 1999, 2004 and 2014.
Although India is a parliamentary democracy, the country's politics has become dynastic or with high level of nepotism, possibly due to the absence of party organizations, independent civil-society associations which mobilize support for a party, or centralized financing of elections. The dynastic phenomenon is present at the national, state, regional, and district level. The Nehru–Gandhi family has produced three Indian prime ministers, and family members have largely led the Congress party since 1978. The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) also has several dynastic leaders. In addition to the major national parties, other national and regional parties such as Shiromani Akali Dal, Shiv Sena, Samajwadi Party, Rashtriya Janata Dal, Janata Dal Secular, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, Kerala Congress, Jammu & Kashmir National Conference, Indian Union Muslim League, AIMIM, and the Nationalist Congress Party are all dominated by families, mostly those of the party founders.
Kalraj Mishra is an Indian politician, serving as the governor of Rajasthan. He is the former governor of Himachal Pradesh and cabinet minister of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises in the BJP-led NDA government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Being affiliated with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), he was a member of Parliament from Deoria constituency in Uttar Pradesh from 2014 to 2019.
Ramdas Bandu Athawale is an Indian politician, social activist and trade unionist from Maharashtra. He is the president of the Republican Party of India (A), a splinter group of the Republican Party of India and has its roots in the Scheduled Castes Federation led by Dr. B. R. Ambedkar since 1999. Currently, he is the Minister of State in the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, Government of India since 2016 and represents Maharashtra in Rajya Sabha, the upper house of India's Parliament since 2014. Previously, he was Lok Sabha MP from Pandharpur from 1999 to 2009 and from Mumbai North Central Lok Sabha constituency from 1998 to 1999. He was also Cabinet minister of Maharashtra from 1990 to 1995 and a member of the Maharashtra Legislative Council from 1990 to 1996.
Anantkumar Hegde is an Indian politician, the former Union Minister of State for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship and the incumbent Member of Parliament for Uttara Kannada constituency. Hegde is a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Hegde is a Hindu nationalist and a Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) volunteer.
Pralhad Venkatesh Joshi is an Indian politician who is the current union Minister of Parliamentary Affairs, Coal and Mines of India, since 30 May 2019 and Member of Parliament in the Lok Sabha, since 2004, representing the Dharwad Lok Sabha constituency. He was also the State President of Bharatiya Janata Party, Karnataka (BJP) from 2014 to 2016. He served in the panel of chairpersons of Lok Sabha (2014-2018).
Karan Singh is an Indian politician and philosopher. He is the Titular Maharaja of the princely state of Jammu and Kashmir. From 1952 to 1965 he was the Sadr-i-Riyasat (President) of the state of Jammu and Kashmir. He is the chairperson trustee of the Dharmarth Trust of Jammu and Kashmir which maintains 175 temples in north India and works in other areas such as historical preservation.
Jagmohan Malhotra, known by the mononym Jagmohan, was an Indian civil servant and politician. After working with the Indian National Congress, he joined the Bharatiya Janata Party in 1995. He served as Lieutenant Governor of Delhi and Goa, as the 5th Governor of Jammu and Kashmir, and for three terms as Member of Parliament for New Delhi. In the cabinet, he served as Union Minister for Urban Development and Tourism.
Krishnanand Rai was an Indian politician from Uttar Pradesh. He served as a MLA from 2002 to 2005 representing Mohammadabad Assembly located at Ghazipur district. His first stint at politics was in year 1999 from same assembly seat, which he lost. He was the member of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Radha Mohan Singh is an Indian politician from Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). He was one of the national vice-presidents of the party (2020-2023). He also served as the Union Minister of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare from 2014 to 2019, during the First Modi ministry. Singh was President of BJP's Bihar State unit from 2006 to 2009 and currently is member of 17th Lok Sabha. He is the chairperson for Parliamentary Standing committee on Railways, National Election Officer, BJP & Incharge for UP BJP.
Amit Anil Chandra Shah is an Indian politician who is currently serving as the 31st Minister of Home Affairs since 2019 and the 1st Minister of Co-operation of India since 2021. He served as the 10th President of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) from 2014 to 2020. He has also served as chairman of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) since 2014. He was elected to the lower house of Parliament, Lok Sabha, in the 2019 Indian general elections from Gandhinagar. Earlier, he had been elected as a member of the upper house of Parliament, Rajya Sabha, from Gujarat from 2017 to 2019.
Jitendra Singh is an Indian physician and politician. He is the Minister of State for the Ministry of Science and Technology and Minister of State for Prime Minister's Office; Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions; Department of Atomic Energy and Department of Space.
Ram Shankar Katheria, is an Indian politician and former Chairman of the National Commission for Scheduled Castes. He is a member of the 17th Lok Sabha of India representing Etawah constituency of Uttar Pradesh. He represented the Agra constituency of Uttar Pradesh previously. He is a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party. He was a Minister of State in the Human Resource Development Ministry till 6 July 2016.
Mahendra Nath Pandey is an Indian politician currently serving as Minister of Heavy Industries he previously served as Minister for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship of India and Member of Lok Sabha for Chandauli since 2014. He is a member of Bharatiya Janata Party and is the president of the party's Uttar Pradesh unit. He has also served as Union Minister of State for Ministry of Human Resource Development between 2016 and 2017. He is a member of Modi's second ministry. On 30 May 2019, he was appointed as Cabinet minister for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, Government of India.
Dr Nirmal Kumar Singh is an Indian politician and was the last Speaker of the Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly of the erstwhile Jammu and Kashmir State. He is a former Deputy Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir. He is a leader of Bharatiya Janata Party. On 1 March 2015, he assumed the charge of the Minister for Power Development and Housing and Urban Development.
Jamyang Tsering Namgyal is an Indian politician and Member of Parliament from Ladakh, India's largest parliamentary seat geographically. Namgyal was elected, on 9 November 2018, to be the youngest and 8th Chief Executive Councillor (CEC) of Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council, Leh. He belongs to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is one of the two major political parties in India and has been the ruling party since the 16th Lok Sabha. It was seeking re-election in the 2019 parliamentary election as the leading party of the National Democratic Alliance, with Narendra Modi as its Prime Ministerial candidate and party president Amit Shah as the campaign chief.
