By VIVEK RAGHUVANSHI
NEW DELHI — As India spends the next month undergoing general elections, military officers and experts are optimistic the front-runners to take over the government will boost defense spending, speed procurement of needed weaponry and overhaul the country’s arms production policy.
Indian voters headed to the polls April 7 to choose representatives to the country’s lower house of Parliament, which in turn determines the country’s leadership over the next five years.
Exit polls predict that the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), led by Narendra Modi, will likely form the next government. The ruling United Progressive Alliance government, led by the Congress Party, is lagging in the polls.
BJP’s election manifesto, released April 6, says, “The BJP will strengthen the Defence Research and Development Organisation, encourage private-sector participation and investment, including foreign direct investment [FDI] in selected defense industries.”
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