According to the Wall Street Journal, the BJP is the most significant foreign political force for US interests

The BJP has been referred to as the "linchpin" of the US strategy in the Indo-Pacific in light of China's growing assertiveness in the region, according to an opinion piece in the venerable Wall Street Journal. It is the most significant foreign political party in the world for American national interests.

According to the opinion essay by eminent American scholar Walter Russell Mead, the BJP may perhaps be the least understood political party. He continued by saying that the Likud Party of Israel, the Communist Party of China, and the Muslim Brotherhood of Egypt all share the most remarkable values with the party.

The opinion post that was published on Monday claims that the BJP is misunderstood in the West because it originates from a political and cultural past that is obscure to the majority of non-Indians.

The victory of a "previously obscure and marginal social movement of national regeneration founded on efforts by generations of social intellectuals and activists to create a distinctly Hindu route to modernization," according to the BJP, is reflected in the party's electoral dominance.

"The BJP, like the Muslim Brotherhood, opposes many of the ideals and principles of Western liberalism while still embracing many fundamental aspects of modernity. The BJP, like the Chinese Communist Party, wants to turn India, a country of more than a billion people, into a superpower "Mead composes.

According to the 70-year-old academic, "Like the Likud Party in Israel, the BJP channels the rage of those who have felt excluded and despised by a cosmopolitan, Western-focused cultural and political elite, while also combining a fundamentally pro-market economic stance with populist rhetoric and traditionalist values.

According to Mead, Americans and Westerners in general need to engage with a complicated and powerful movement much more intimately. "After an extensive series of meetings with top BJP and RSS officials, as well as some of its detractors," he adds.

He claims that the RSS has grown from a small group of mostly outcast academics and religious enthusiasts to become one of the most powerful civil society organisations in the world.

Mead also emphasises how crucial closer connections between the US and India are.

The BJP, which took office in 2014, won a second term in 2019 and is expected to win again in 2024, "sits securely at the helm of Indian politics at a time when India is emerging both as a leading economic power and, along with Japan, as the linchpin of American strategy in the Indo-Pacific," the author writes.

The BJP will remain in charge for the foreseeable future in a nation without which Mead predicts that US attempts to counter increasing China dominance would fail.

Americans can't afford to turn down the opportunity to dialogue with the BJP and RSS, according to Mead.

"The US needs India as a political and economic ally as tensions with China increase. For corporate executives and investors looking to do business with India as well as for diplomats and officials looking to place the strategic partnership on solid ground, it is crucial to understand the philosophy and history of the Hindu nationalist movement "He composes.

In light of China's expanding military manoeuvres in the resource-rich area, the US, India, and a number of other global powers have been discussing the necessity to guarantee a free, open, and prosperous Indo-Pacific.

Mead also describes his encounter with Yogi Adityanath, the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, the most populous state in India, and remembers that they discussed attracting business and development to his region.

Similarly, he adds, "RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat talked to me about the need to hasten India's economic progress and rejected the notion that religious minorities should face prejudice or lose their civil rights.

It is hard to foretell how these remarks made by senior authorities to a foreign journalist would spread to the general public, he claims.

Nevertheless, he continues, "I did get the sense that the leadership of a once marginalised movement wants to position itself as the natural establishment of a rising power and is looking to engage deeply and productively with the outside world without losing touch with its social and political base.