Born Surendranath Mukerji in India, Bharati
led a life prior to his arrival in the United States
in 1902 that is little known. He was a devotee
of Krishna and followed a form of Vaishnavite
BHAKTI YOGA similar to that popularized in the
1970s by the INTERNATIONAL SOCIETY FOR KRISHNA
CONSCIOUSNESS. He advocated the repetition of
the Hare Krishna mantra as a means of gaining
release from the wheel of reincarnation and gain-
ing enlightenment.
Bharati first worked in New York City, where
he organized the Krishna Samaj. He lectured along
the East Coast for several years and then moved to
Los Angeles, where he built a temple and devel-
oped a youthful and loyal following. After only a
few years, in 1909, he returned to India, where he
died in 1914, still a relatively young man.
In the years after his death, Bharati was con-
demned by American nativists such as Elizabeth
Reed, who were mobilizing public support for the
Asian Exclusion Act, which passed in 1917. At
about that time the Krishna Samaj was shut down.
However, Bharati’s followers later formed several
other organizations with similar missions, includ-
ing the Order of Loving Service, active only in the
1930s, and the AUM Temple of Universal Truth,
which continued to operate into the 1980s, reprint-
ing Bharati’s writings in their periodicals and circu-
lating his picture a half-century after his death.
Further reading: Baba Premanand Bharati, American
Lectures (Calcutta: Indo-American Press, n.d.); ———,
Shree Krishna (New York: Krishna Samaj, n.d.); Eliza-
beth A. Reed, Hinduism in Europe and America (New
York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1914).
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Peoples Party of
India, is one of the largest political parties in India,
serving as the governing party on the state and fed-
eral levels at various times in recent years.
The BJP is the political wing of the old RASH-
TRIYA SVAYA M SEVAK SANGH (RSS), the National
Organization for Self-help. It was formed as a
separate party in 1980 after internal differences
within the Janata Party resulted in the collapse of
its government in 1979. BJP held the prime min-
istership of India from 1998 to 2004 under the
leadership of Atal Bihari Bajpayee. In 2004 it was
defeated in parliamentary elections by a coalition
led by the Congress Party.
The Bharata Janata Party considers itself to
be a party of HINDU NATIONALISM; its ideology is
called Hindutva, defined not in terms of the Hindu
religion but as Indianness. The party points to the
original meaning of the word Hindu, coined by
Arab conquerors to refer to all the people living in
India. However, critics have labeled the BJP a Hindu
fundamentalist or even a Hindu fascist party.
The BJP rose to prominence during the tur-
moil surrounding the Babri Masjid Mosque in
the Uttar Pradesh city of AYODHYA. This mosque
was built in 1528 C.E. on a site claimed to be the
birthplace of RAMA, an AVATA R of Visnu. During
the 1940s RSS members erected an image of Rama
in the mosque, and the government later sealed
off the mosque. During the 1980s the RSS began
staging violent protests against its very existence.
Lal Krishnan Advani, the leader of the BJP and
a leader in the VISHVA HINDU PARISHAD (World
Hindu Council), was indicted on several occa-
sions for leading the protests. This mosque was
destroyed in 1992 by RSS activists, prompting
nationwide riots that killed 3,000 people.
In 2006 BJP was voted out of office to a great
extent because of the Gujarat violence of 2003,
when 3,000 Muslims were killed, for which the
BJP chief minister, Narendra Modi, was held
responsible.Further reading: Gwilym Beckerlegge and Anthony
Copley, eds. Saffron and Seva (Hinduism in Public and
Private) (New York: Oxford University Press, 2003);
Chetan Bhat, Hindu Nationalism: Origins, Ideologies, and
Modern Myths (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001);
Blom Thomas Hanson. The Saffron Way: Democracy and
Nationalism in Modern India. (Princeton, N.J.: Princ-K 80 Bharatiya Janata Party