Abstract
To the surprise of many, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) singlehandedly won a majority in the national elections of 2014. Since then the party which, once had two seats in parliament, has come to govern 21 states in India. How did the BJP become so successful? The BJP is now the principal carrier of conservatism in India. This was not the case at independence. The ideological roots of the BJP lie in the idea of Hindu majoritarianism. Over the years the BJP succeeded in accommodating conservative elements not only from the Congress but also from other right-wing parties. Its electoral success has been aided by the social and economic changes in India since the 1990s. These changes, however, have also generated contradictions within the ideological coalitions that brought about the rise of the BJP and pose a potential challenge to the party as it moves to consolidate its position.
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