The two NDA governments in the period 1998?2004 introduced significant deregulation and privatisation of government owned enterprises. It also introduced tariff?reducing measures. These reforms built off of the initial economic liberalisation introduced by the Congress government in the early 1990s. India's GDP growth increased substantially during the tenure of the NDA. The 2004 campaign slogan "India Shining" was based on the party's belief that the free market would bring prosperity to all sectors of society. After its unexpected defeat, commentators said that it was punished for neglecting the needs of the poor and focusing too much on its corporate allies. This shift in the economic policies of the BJP was also visible in state governments, especially in Gujarat, where the BJP held power for 16 years. Modi's government, in power from 2002 to 2014, followed a strongly neo?liberal agenda, presented as a drive towards development. Its policies have included extensive privatisation of infrastructure and services, as well as a significant rollback of labour and environmental regulations. While this was praised by the business community, commentators criticised it as catering to the BJP's upper class constituency instead of the poor. Upon his election as Prime Minister in 2014, Modi has largely continued the reformist approach of the last two NDA governments, but unlike Vajpayee, "prefers to bill himself as a messiah of the poor, and not as an economic liberaliser". Modi has been described as taking a more economically populist approach on healthcare and agricultural policy. Compared to the Congress, the BJP takes a more aggressive and nationalistic position on defence policy and terrorism. The Vajpayee?led NDA government carried out nuclear weapons tests, and enacted the Prevention of Terrorism Act, which later came under heavy criticism. It also deployed troops to evict infiltrators from Kargil, and supported the United States' War on Terror. Although previous Congress governments developed the capability for a nuclear weapons test, the Vajpayee government broke with India's historical strategy of avoiding it and authorised Pokhran?II, a series of five nuclear tests in 1998. The tests came soon after Pakistan tested a medium?range ballistic missile. They were seen as an attempt to display India's military prowess to the world, and a reflection of anti?Pakistan sentiment within the BJP. The Vajpayee government ordered the Indian armed forces to expel the Pakistani soldiers occupying Kashmir territory, later known as the Kargil War. Although the government was later criticised for the intelligence failures that did not detect Pakistani presence, it was successful in ousting them from the previously Indian?controlled territory. The Vajpayee administration also offered political support to the US War on Terror, in the hope of better addressing India's issues with terrorism and insurgency in Kashmir. This led to closer defence ties with the US, including negotiations for the sale of weapons. After the terrorist attack on the Indian Parliament in December 2001, the NDA government passed the Prevention of Terrorism Act. The aim of the act was to improve the government's ability to deal with terrorism. It initially failed to pass in the Rajya Sabha; therefore, the NDA took the extraordinary step of convening a joint session of the Parliament, where the numerical superior Lok Sabha allowed the bill to pass. The act was subsequently used to prosecute hundreds of people accused of terrorism. However, it was criticised by opposition parties and scholars for being an infringement upon civil liberties, and the National Human Rights Commission stated that it had been used to target Muslims. It was later repealed by the Congress?led UPA government in 2004. The historical stance of the BJP The two NDA governments in the period 1998?2004 introduced significant deregulation and privatisation of government owned enterprises. It also introduced t