Talk:Bharatiya Janata Party

Critics have pointed out that BJP is hardly Right wing economically. (Requested edit since the page is protected)
Critics have pointed out BJP is in general (mostly) a mixture of conservative social policies, with quite a bunch of left leaning economic policies; the article in misleading in that sense since BJP is mostly opportunistic/pragmatic/populist mixtures than idealistic purity in economics. I would like someone who has the access to this page to actually edit it. These are few of the citations: 1 2 3 4   Averagepcuser (talk) 16:19, 21 April 2024 (UTC)


 * Those sources are all opinion pieces; per WP:OPED WP:NEWSORG, they don't carry much weight. We need scholarly sources making the same argument. Vanamonde93 (talk) 20:27, 21 April 2024 (UTC)
 * ok thanks! I couldn't find many scholarly sources, I will keep that in mind for my next contribution. I am guessing they(the scholars) might be using the label right-left economic policies in a different way than categorically sorting out policies one by one, but more in the line with typicality of a party belonging to the category relative to others and their historical branding. If this guess of mine is true if BJP was non-hindu secular party on social policies it would be classified as centre to centre-left by the scholars. (I think I should look more into how scholars use this criteria by resisting the human urge of falling into word essentialism) Averagepcuser (talk) 07:39, 23 April 2024 (UTC)
 * There is a considerable body of literature showing that the BJP's economic policy has focused on deregulation, which is not a leftist priority. It has undeniably mixed in populist priorities, which we cover; but calling them "leftist" is not something we can do without reliable sources supporting that terminology. Vanamonde93 (talk) 16:01, 23 April 2024 (UTC)

The Political Position of the BJP
Currently it is "Right-Wing". But it should probably be "Right-Wing to Far-Right" in my opinion. Finding scholarly sources for it will certainly be a task, but I can clearly see a case for this.

Speeches like this by the Prime Minister who also happens to be the face of this party should render its position "Far-Right" or at the very least "Right-Wing to Far-Right" https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/choose-between-vote-jihad-and-ram-rajya-pm-modi-at-election-rally-5613571 Faaz Noushad (talk) 20:33, 13 May 2024 (UTC)
 * Do you have any reliable sources describing it as "right-wing to far-right"? Brunton (talk) 20:41, 13 May 2024 (UTC)
 * The BJP's paramilitary wing, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, is already classified as far-right on its wiki page. It makes logical sense that the political party itself, if not using solely "far-right" to be classified as "right-wing to far-right". Game2Winter (talk) 23:01, 17 May 2024 (UTC)
 * There isn't one, there is a lot. Hidolo (talk) 02:49, 18 May 2024 (UTC)
 * I looked at two of the sources that Hidolo cited, both described it as "populist radical right". They do not say "far right". We need to stick to what sources say. We cannot say that the source says "X", that must mean "Y".


 * I know that it is sometimes said that the "radical right" are part of the far right, but the people who say this may have an agenda of their own. In any case, Wikipedia policy WP:NOR does not allow us to combine multiple sources to support a statement that none of the sources explicitly support. -- Toddy1 (talk) 08:03, 18 May 2024 (UTC)
 * how ever, there are a lot more. And you haven't even seen the other ones. In most far-right parties on English Wikipedia, they mention that it is a subset and they equate it. Please. Hidolo (talk) 12:57, 18 May 2024 (UTC)
 * You gave a list of seven citations, and I checked two, which did NOT support "far right" (they supported "populist radical right"). If you have citations that explicitly support "far right", then cite just them and quote what they say. -- Toddy1 (talk) 14:31, 18 May 2024 (UTC)
 * First, Wikipedia itself equates the extreme right with the radical right. See National Rally, Alternative for Germany, etc. Everyone accredits what I mean. What you say goes against Wikipedia itself. Second, here are all the quotes.
 * 3rd one: [...] the Indian far right, as represented by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) [...], p103.
 * 4th one: [...] including the ruling, far-right nativist and authoritarian Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP, see Mudde, 2019) [...], unknown page.
 * 5th one: The indu far-right Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) [...], p158.
 * 6th onw: [...] upper and middle castes joined forces in the far-right Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). p107.
 * And the last one is a new, you can check for your own.
 * I can show you so much more sources if you want. Hidolo (talk) 15:18, 18 May 2024 (UTC)
 * If you want this to proceed, you need to write a paragraph for the article on the BJP's political position. This needs to cite the kinds of sources you mention and to explain what they say.  Please use Template:Cite book.  For your "3rd one" this is probably a more useful URL than this because it helps the user find the right bit.
 * If all you want to do is to change the infobox... that is not going to happen until there is a paragraph in the text about this. The infobox is meant to be a summary, not a replacement for the article. -- Toddy1 (talk) 16:14, 18 May 2024 (UTC)
 * I would put [The party is widely described as right-wing, but has recently been described as far-right]. And thats it. But I can't modify the article because of the blocking, if you can add it would be corteus, and I would thank you a lot. Hidolo (talk) 17:54, 18 May 2024 (UTC)
 * Hi, you forgot to put it on the infobox "right-wing to far-right". Hidolo (talk) 22:23, 20 May 2024 (UTC)
 * -- Toddy1 (talk) 23:01, 20 May 2024 (UTC)
 * Shouldn't it be "Right-Wing to Far-Right" instead of "Right-Wing or Far-Right" ? Faaz Noushad (talk) 12:26, 23 May 2024 (UTC)
 * No. Some sources say "Right-Wing", whilst other says "Far-Right". It seems to be a matter of opinion which it is. -- Toddy1 (talk) 14:37, 23 May 2024 (UTC)


 * copied from User talk:Hidolo
 * I want to add the following text in the "ideology and political positions" section. Obviously then in the template:
 * "The party along the history has been widely described as a right-wing party, but has recently been described as far-right one, specifically is considered part of the radical right, a subset of the far-right that does not oppose democracy. " Hidolo (talk) 22:54, 19 May 2024 (UTC)

Extended-confirmed-protected edit request on 6 June 2024
I propose updating the political classification of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Wikipedia from "right-wing to far-right" to "right-wing" to reflect a more accurate understanding of its ideological stance. The BJP is primarily recognized for its right-wing ideology, which includes Hindu nationalism, strong national defense, small government, and market-oriented economic policies. Its core philosophy, Integral Humanism, advocates for a progressive and enlightened nation inspired by India's ancient culture and values. While the BJP incorporates elements of Hindu nationalism, it has moved these ideas into the mainstream under Narendra Modi's leadership, distinguishing it from extreme far-right ideologies. The party's policy focus on infrastructure development, economic reforms, and maintaining India's territorial integrity aligns with traditional right-wing approaches rather than far-right positions. Updating the description to "right-wing" provides a more accurate representation of the BJP's political positioning and aligns with multiple reliable sources discussing the party's ideology and actions.

Thank you ヘンドリックス (talk) 10:51, 6 June 2024 (UTC)
 * Red information icon with gradient background.svg Not done for now: please establish a consensus for this alteration before using the template. Geardona (talk to me?) 01:11, 3 July 2024 (UTC)

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is described as "right-wing to far-right." I think this should be changed back to "right-wing."

The BJP is primarily recognized for its right-wing ideology, which includes Hindu nationalism, strong national defense, small government, and market-oriented economic policies. Its core philosophy, Integral Humanism, advocates for a progressive and enlightened nation inspired by India's ancient culture and values. While the BJP incorporates elements of Hindu nationalism, it has mainstreamed these ideas under Narendra Modi's leadership, distinguishing it from extreme far-right ideologies. Changing the political position to "right-wing" aligns with multiple reliable sources discussing the party's ideology and actions.

Sources: https://www.liquisearch.com/bharatiya_janata_party/ideology_and_political_positions https://asiasociety.org/india/understanding-bjp-history-and-ideology https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/5/22/india-election-narendra-modi ヘンドリックス (talk) 11:12, 6 June 2024 (UTC)
 * I support reversion to "right-wing", as there are just as many sources calling the BJP "centre-right" or "center-right" as "far-right". Since different sources apply different descriptions, "right-wing" is the best descriptor as a big tent term on the right. Here are some "centre-right"'/"center-right" sources: Deutsche Welle: https://www.dw.com/en/india-bjp-backs-tribal-politician-draupadi-murmu-for-president-against-former-ally/a-62505626; Al Jazeera: https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2015/11/13/british-indians-divided-over-modis-uk-visit; Washington Post: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/divided-families-and-tense-silences-us-style-polarization-arrives-in-india/2019/05/18/734bfdc6-5bb3-11e9-98d4-844088d135f2_story.html; Scottish Daily Express: https://www.scottishdailyexpress.co.uk/news/politics/scottish-greens-reported-police-stirring-32990430. Calling the BJP far-right also removes the distinction with genuinely far-right parties like the Shinde-led Shiv Sena, the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena and the Hindu Mahasabha. --Jay942942 (talk) 11:10, 10 June 2024 (UTC)
 * This request would be more convincing if you looked at scholarly sources rather than media, some of dubious quality. (t &#183; c)  buidhe  14:21, 19 June 2024 (UTC)

Edit request
Update state assembly represantion and CMS. 2001akselvaraj (talk) 07:05, 9 June 2024 (UTC)

Adding categories
Hi Can you please add the "Category:Far-right political parties in India," "Category:Far-right political parties", "Category:Far-right extremism," and "Category:Fascist parties" to the Bharatiya Janata Party article? As I can see, these categories are quite related to the article; they're well sourced by other editors. I added Category: Far-right extremism and Category: Fascist parties because the party wholly support Hindutva, whose idealogical roots support the above categories. In the main Hindutva article, support for fascism & extremist views has been widely described by scholarly sources / academic sources. Thanks--2409:40E0:1B:B91:61A7:4D87:45C7:2933 (talk) 16:53, 21 June 2024 (UTC)
 * There is no consensus for that. -- Toddy1 (talk) 21:56, 21 June 2024 (UTC)