The New BJP

This book examines how the BJP became the world's largest political party. It goes beyond the usual narrative of the party's Hindutva politics to explain how, under Narendra Modi, the party reshaped the Indian polity using its own brand of social engineering. According to the findings of this book, this reconstruction was cleverly powered by new caste coalitions, the claim of a new welfare state that focused on marginalised social groups and the making of a women-voter base. Based on data from three unique indices-the Mehta-Singh Social Index, which studies the caste composition of Indian political parties; the Narad Index, which calculates communication patterns across topics and audiences; and PollNiti, which connects and tallies hundreds of political and economic datasets-The New BJP is full of startling insights into the way both the party and the country function. Previously untapped historical records, exclusive interviews with party leaders and comprehensive reportage from across India provide a fresh understanding of the BJP's growth areas, including the Northeast and south India. A lucid and objective study of the BJP and India today, this book will be useful to researchers, journalists, students, activists and general public alike. Print edition not for sale in South Asia (Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka).

Nalin Mehta is Dean, School of Modern Media, UPES; Advisor, Global University Systems; and Non-Resident Senior Fellow, Institute of South Asian Studies, National University of Singapore. He is an award-winning social scientist, journalist and author who has held senior leadership positions in major Indian media companies and in international financing institutions like the Global Fund in Geneva, Switzerland. He has taught and held research positions at universities and institutions in Australia (ANU, La Trobe University), Singapore (NUS), Switzerland (International Olympic Museum) and India (IIM Bangalore, Shiv Nadar University). He was previously Executive Editor, The Times of India-Online, where he led a number of AI-led tech innovations to redefine digital media. He has also served as Managing Editor, India Today (English TV channel) and Consulting Editor, The Times of India. Mehta is the author of five bestselling and critically acclaimed books, including India on Television (winner of the Asian Publishing Award for Best Book on Asian Media, 2009), Behind a Billion Screens (longlisted as Business Book of the Year, Tata Literature Live, 2015), and most recently, Dreams of a Billion (co-authored, Ekamra Sports Book of the Year, 2021).

INTRODUCTION A 'Jai Sri Ram' Sticker and a Family Argument: The BJP and a Personal Retracing PART I THE HINDI HEARTLAND: LABHARTHEE SAMMELANS, CASTE RE-ENGINEERING, HINDUTVA AND THE WELFARE WHEEL 1. The BJP as the Party of the Village: An Introduction 2. Becoming the Hindi Heartland's Predominant Rural Party 3. The Caste Game: How the BJP Became the Most Socially Representative Party in UP (Barring Muslims) 4. The BJP's Political Mobilisation of Welfare: 'Labharthees' 5. The BJP's Muslim Model: Hindutva, the Politics of Exclusion and Why the BJP Still Wins Muslim Seats PART II COMMUNICATION: WHAT THE BJP FOCUSES ON AND WHERE IT SPEAKS 6. What the BJP Says: The Changing Patterns of Its Discourse 7. Modi@Digital: Why the BJP Wins on Social Media 8. How the BJP Became the World's Largest Political Party: Organisational Restructuring and the Use of Digital Technologies PART III IDEOLOGY, ECONOMIC THINKING AND GOVERNANCE 9. Roots of the BJP: The Jan Sangh Story 10. When Right Is Left: The BJP's Economic Model in New India PART IV THE UMBILICAL CORD 11. The BJP's RSS Link: The Foundational Moment 12. The Growth of the RSS 13. What the RSS Says: Issues That Matter the Most to the Sangh 14. The Sangh Parivar and Education: Tribal Communities, Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram and Christian Missionaries PART V BEYOND THE DOMINANT NARRATIVE: THE SOUTH, THE NORTHEAST AND WOMEN 15. The BJP's South Model: The Karnataka Formula 16. Mergers, Acquisitions and the 'Eight Goddesses': The BJP's Northeast Push 17. The Making of a New Women's Vote: Gender, Politics and Hindutva CONCLUSION 18 'Party of Ram': A Hindu Suratrana, the Idea of 'New India' and Its Global Message Postscript Notes Appendices 1-15 The BJP: A Timeline Index Acknowledgements

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