Vajpayee explains Pokhran rationale

By P. S. Suryanarayana

WASHINGTON, NOV. 9. The Prime Minister, Mr. Atal Behari Vajpayee, has portrayed a robust picture of India as a politically stable nation, whose face had dynamically changed in recent years. Addressing a gathering of Indo-Americans at a reception hosted by India's Ambassador to the United States, Mr. Lalit Mansingh, Mr. Vajpayee said very few nations would be able to boast of such a scientific pool as India.

Speaking in Hindi, Mr. Vajpayee appeared relaxed on the eve of a crucial summit with the U.S. President, Mr. George Bush. He explained the ``security'' rationale of India's nuclear weapons testing in 1998. Priding himself on how India was able to do so without the international community getting wind of it, Mr. Vajpayee said his administration was also tackling the country's economic problems.

PTI reports:

The Prime Minister said that the former President, Mr. R. Venkataraman, who had come to meet him recently, told him that he and the then Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi, were in favour of conducting nuclear tests.

Once he (Mr. Venkataraman) had even gone to the test site after all preparations were made but he was called back to New Delhi in the last minute because ``those who should not have known about it came to know of it. But when we conducted the tests three years ago none in the world was aware of it. Even my Cabinet colleagues were surprised and they told me so,'' he added.

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Section  : International
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