India Decisively Elects Modi, BJP Who Promise to Continue Defense Indigenisation Policy

• Narendra Modi and his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have won India’s general election by a landslide, on a platform of infrastructure development, economic efficiency, and better governance. They got a high vote share backed by a high turnout.

• On the defense side though, the BJP doesn’t sound very different from the Congress party they’re about to replace in power:

“First, India needs to cut down its excessive reliance on foreign arms manufacturers and focus its energies on indigenisation and becoming a manufacturer of technologies and equipment that can be used by our military. Not only will this effort save us crucial foreign exchange but also lead to generation of millions of jobs that will act as a booster for the Indian economy.”

• As a reminder that in India you’re not in Kansas anymore, here’s the BJP’s victory video clip. Catchy tune! For a more substantial video, see this recent interview with Modi.