India's National Security under the BJP: ¿Strong at Home, Engaged Abroad¿
Kundu, Apurba
Kundu, Apurba
Publication Date
2004
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Abstract
In a marked departure from previous national governments, those led by the Bharatiya
Janata Party (BJP) sought to address national security issues both proactively and
strategically in line with the party¿s philosophy of achieving a strong India. This paper
begins by examining the strategic vision of the BJP. It then analyses how this vision
led the BJP to make India an overt nuclear weapons state in 1998, and how this status
affected the government¿s actions in the Kargil Conflict of 1999. This is followed by
an closer examination of national security strategy under the BJP-led National
Democratic Alliance (NDA), particularly as outlined in the seminal Reforming the
National Security System: Recommendations of the Group of Ministers of 2001, and
how this administration responded to the near-war situation which developed between
India and Pakistan in the spring-summer of 2002. The paper then will conceptualise
NDA national security policy as ¿strong at home, engaged abroad¿ as evidenced by
defence spending on external and internal security, the military¿s deployment on
peacekeeping duties, and defence cooperation with other countries. It will conclude
with an examination as to whether this national security policy as conceptualised here
will remain effective and/or viable in the future.
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Kundu, A. (2004). India's National Security under the BJP: ¿Strong at Home, Engaged Abroad¿. EurAsia Bulletin. Vol. 8, No. 3-4.
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