The Saffron Tide

by Kingshuk Nag

The counting of votes in the general elections of 2014 began on the morning of 16 May. By mid-day, the Bharatiya Janata Party stormed into power with a full majority in the Lok Sabha, the only other party after the Congress in 1984 to have received such a resounding mandate.
The BJP traces its origins to the Bharatiya Jana Sangh, originally set up by Syama Prasad Mookerjee in 1951 to take up the cause of Bengali Hindus in erstwhile East Pakistan. A bit player in Indian politics, the Jana Sangh only entered the big league after it forged an alliance with several other players to form the Janata Party and take on Indira Gandhi in 1977. This coalition broke up in 1980, and it was then that the BJP emerged in its present avatar. Today, the party has a pan-Indian presence with a devoted base, not just within the country but also among the Hindu diaspora worldwide. However, the BJP’s remarkable rise has not been without struggle.
It was only in 1998—nearly two decades after its founding—that the party first tasted power. Voted out in 2004, the BJP sat in the Opposition for a decade before taking up the reins again in 2004. And, while the BJP, since its inception, has presented a popular democratic alternative to the Congress, it has struggled to shed its image of being overtly wedded to the pro-Hindutva agenda.
In The Saffron Tide, a timely biography of the BJP, Kingshuk Nag traces the history of the party of India, and crystal-gazes to estimate the course that it will chart for itself in the coming years. Balanced, informative and thought-provoking, this volume will be indispensable for anyone interested in the political history of post-Independence India.

Genres: Politics, India, History, Nonfiction

257 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2014

Reviews

[Jennifer Jacobs · Rating 5 out of 5]

A bit disappointed!
This book should have included much more on post 1998 times,the time BJP has actually ruled India but the book is focused too much in its earlier times and Jan Sangh.
I am still reading it but may be Mr.Nag should come up wit part 2 concentrating on parts after 1998 NDA 1 and esp Narendra Modi's times :-)

[Abubakar Mehdi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kingshuk Nag chronicles the rise of Bharatiya Janata Party from its inception as Jana Sangh to its Multi party Alliance Janata Party to its ultimate formation as BJP. The author has given little or no attention to the role of Rashtriya Sawayemsevak Sangh in the current structure of the party. And the brevity of the book deprives it of the detail and analysis that the subject deserves.
A good introduction to right wing politics India and how it has evolved over the years. For detailed summary of the book, read my blogpost; https://thusspakeabubakar.wordpress.c...

[Amit Tyagi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Of course with the recent victory of BJP, there is a never before interest in BJP and understanding what it stands for. In this respect the author has done a good job in tracing the history of the saffron party. BJP's history can never be told without discussing the Jan Sangh and the question of dual membership which the author has done justice to. He has also done well to analyze the evolution of the religious right wing in the country. He has analyzed the various presidents of the party and the impact that they have left on the organization. One of the better features of the book is when he has analyzed BJP's performance in various states over the years.

[Vikas Datta · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quite a comprehensive account of the evolution of the community-based, right-wing grouping of the Indian polity but, to my mind, not going far enough in chronicling its way forward after its victory in the 2014 polls

[Umesh Kesavan · Rating 2 out of 5]

The author touches upon various aspects of the evolution of BJP but does not focus on any one particular aspect in detail making this a book only for beginners. Wish more space had been spent on the RSS-BJP marriage. A decent book but does not qualify as the authoritative work on BJP. We need to wait for a better one.

P.S: Too many spelling and grammatical errors. Deserved better editing.

[Colin · Rating 2 out of 5]

Some value perhaps as a very high-level overview of the BJP’s history, but the book assumes a certain level of familiarity with Indian political and society dynamics that I just don’t have, while also being fairly thin in terms of its depth. While it offers some insights into the party’s relationship with affiliated Hindu political organizations in India and competition with Congress and some minority groups, the book ends up being mostly a recounting of the major election cycles at the national and (in the last few chapters) state level. The party’s relationship with the RSS is a recurring theme that the book never seems to tackle full on, which I ultimately found frustrating. Caps off the story with the party’s majority win in the 2014 elections and Modi’s elevation to prime minister, but doesn’t offer much deep insight into him either, though it overviews his tenure in Gujrat and some of the intra-party tensions that preceded his victory. There are no citations or references in the book at all, so hard to follow up on the subject from this basis. Will have to look elsewhere for more insight.

[Ranjeet Bhosale]

Its a good book by kinshuk nag that sheds some light on the bjp and also their way of functioning. It tells us a fact that the rss has control over the organisation and also the metamorphosis of jana sangh into the bhartiya janata party. It was partly envisioned by atal bihari vajapyee and lal krishna advani and their subbordinates. The jawaharlal nehru era, the indira gandhi era and the politics of that time. The issues the country faced and the cast based political developments that occour on in india are described in great detail. The expansion of bjp in various states and the camaraderie between lal krishna advani and atal bihari vajpayee is worth mentioning. Although some of the party ideologies my disturb someone alls not bad in the way of their functioning.

[Yash Sharma · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Story Of The World's Largest Political Party : BJP
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If I seem to take part in politics, it is only because politics encircles us today like the coil of a snake from which one cannot get out, no matter how much one tries. I wish therefore to wrestle with the snake.

- Mahatma Gandhi




The Saffron tide, the rise of the BJP, is a concise biography of the world's largest political party, The Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP).

For the detailed review you can also visit - https://dontbignorant.in/the-story-of...

[Dhiren Parekh · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book details the slow rise of BJP and steady evolution of its political ideology. Though it is an honest attempt but still it appears too general and superfluous. Not much effort has gone into the present state and future positioning of the party. Overall an average book purely presenting academic perspective

[Sarthak Bhatt · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very brief and well written history of the bjp found some really interesting bits like when Modi snubbed Vajpayee in front of the press and Advani didn't like Modi as a prime ministerial candidate. The book essentially explains every Indian election in a concise manner and I liked that very much.

[Navaneethcrshna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Detailed and well narrated

[Naveen Sivadasan · Rating 3 out of 5]

The author Kingshuk Nag narrates the ups and downs of the Saffron party, a party which posited itself as an alternative 'Third Way' to the settled ideologies of both Capitalism & Communism in India.The chapters on communal events like Ayodhya,Godhra and the politics behind it tests the BJP's idea of 'positive secularism'.Certainly, an interesting read with Balanced stands is the hallmark of this book.

[Shoaib · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Saffron tide, the rise of the BJP, is a concise biography of the India’s largest political party, The Bhartiya Janta Party. Founded by Shayam Mookerjee in the year 1951 as Jana Sangh following his resignation from Nehru cabinet over a disagreement about the 1950 Delhi Pact with Pakistani Prime Minister Liaquat Ali Khan.

During the early years of its formation, Jana Sangh was not considered a serious contender in the Indian political scene, mainly due to vibrant politic of Congress charismatic leader Jawaharlal Nehru. It was only after the declaration of Emergency by Indira Gandhi when most of the opposition leaders were thrown in Jail and following their release, all major opposition parties including right wing Bharatiya Jana Sangh and left wing Bharatiya Lok Dal decided to form a united front against Indira Gandhi and the ‘Janta Party’ was formed under the titular leadership of Jayaprakash Narayan. This coalition proved temporary and broke up and it was then BJP emerged into Indian political scene with Atal Bihari Vajpayee was elected as first president of BJP.

It was after the weight of two decades when BJP finally came to the power in the year 1998 and Atal Bihari Vajpayee became the prime minister of India. Voted out in the year 2004 in a surprise defeat despite the government led by Vajpayee had done a good amount of work when they were in power. Sitting in the opposition benches for a decade, finally a moment came for BJP in 2014 general elections, when Indians elected a political firebrand and a Hindu nationalist, Narendra Modi's opposition party into power with a landslide victory.

For anyone interested to learn about the dynamics of Indian political culture, especially the right-wing Hindutva, this book is must read. This book accounts the rise of BJP and explains how it evolved from ‘Bharatiya Jana Sang’h to the present ‘Bharatiya Janata Party’ and the rise of BJP power in the year 1998 and 2014 respectively and attempts to look ahead into how BJP will evolve further in future.

[Punyashlok · Rating 3 out of 5]

An introduction to the fall of Congress and the rise of BJP. However this covers the age long before Narendra Modi was centre stage. The names of deendayal upadhyay and the other founders of the Jan Sangh and the early days of BJP start making some sense to the younger generation. A very superficial treatment though that reads like a series of sunday mid pieces. But should you read it .. if you are Indian ..you cant but read it.

[Anirban · Rating 4 out of 5]

A breezy, sort of beginner level course on the origins of the Party. Though not going into too much of details, and not shedding too much light on the period from 2004-2014, the book does give a comprehensive account of the timeline of the party.

[Anneli · Rating 2 out of 5]

For my taste the book contained too much statistical information and too little room was left for analysis.

[Saurav Choudhury · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book by Kingshuk Nag delves into the formation of BJP to it's rise (upto 2014)
The book starts right from the formation of Jan Sangh by S P Mookerjee and takes us through the journey of coming to power under the fold of Janata Party and subsequent issue of dual membership, eventually leading to the formation of the BJP in it's current state. The book delves and lucidly explains the strategy, the long term vision that RSS had and the steps it took to make it's political outfit, the BJP a success. The small write ups on the BJP's performance in each state is a good addition.
The writer could have further delved into the post 1998 era when the BJP actually became a force to recon with, the major decisions that the BJP govt took leading to the subsequent fall. Also, Nag missed out covering the mass hysteria that BJP created leading to their eventual win in 2014. A further deep dive would have been preferable.

Nevertheless, a good read for people who want to know about BJP.

[Varun Nayak · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nag does a good job in tracing the history of the saffron party, from its inception as the Jana Sangh and its transformation into the BJP as we know it today.

The information on its early leaders including Shyama Prasad Mookherjee, Deen Dayal Upadhyay, Balraj Madhok, Vajpayee, Advani etc is brilliant and so is the state wise analysis of the party and why or why not has done well there in the past.

A little more in depth information on the second rung BJP leadership like Modi, Amit Shah, Shivraj Singh Chauhan, Jaitley, Swaraj, Mahajan etc perhaps would have made the book more comprehensive.

[Aarish Khan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read the book to learn more about the history of the BJP, which it did educate me about. The book gives ample detail about the historical evolution of the BJP and its relationship with the RSS. Since it was published soon after Prime Minister Modi assumed office for the first time in 2014, it obviously doesn't cover the developments after that. Nevertheless, it is an informative read on the BJP's journey up to that point. The author has done a reasonably good job at being dispassionate about the subject of his inquiry.

[Samra Fatima · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is such an amazing book, if someone wants to know about background of BJP government then just go for it and it'll definitely enlighten you.

In this book I've observed RSS has targeted majority since 1947 they've always dragged religion in everything either it's mosque or refugee and it worked that's why they're the ruling party now.

Give it a read to understand their ideology and agenda.

[Kartik Namburi · Rating 4 out of 5]

The author chronicles the journey of BJP, right from the Jan Sangh days. The journey post 1996 should have been much more elaborate. A decent book otherwise.

[Animesh Mitra · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ok, readable.

[Niket Sheth · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is more of an overview rather than a deep dive into the intricacies of BJP. It focuses more on the early years of the party.

[Anil Gupta · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent summary of rise of BJP/Jansangh and important events surrounding it.

[Shivam Upadhyay · Rating 5 out of 5]

good

[Anandh Sundar · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book outlines how the BJP evolved from various parties of the Hindu right, and also chronicles the rise of Modi/Advani alongside. Good read for those wanting to understand how the RSS/VHP and other bodies rose and gave rise to the BJP

[J S Chandra · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gives a good insight into the rise of the party