The Hindu : Nuclear weapons helped avert war: Kalam

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Jun 20, 2002

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Nuclear weapons helped avert war: Kalam

By Neena Vyas

The Presidential candidate, A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, addressing a press conference in New Delhi on Wednesday. The Communication Minister, Pramod Mahajan, is also seen. #151; Photo: Anu Pushkarna.

NEW DELHI JUNE 19. The man all set to become President, A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, is not quite unfamiliar with politics. At his first press conference here today, he deftly handled questions ranging from the Gujarat carnage to his ``pro-nuclear weapons image''. And he fielded them all without faltering, effortlessly and he was always politically correct.

Clearly, his own inimitable style was not limited to his hair, he was a man who liked to have ``his way'', his aim was always high, and his vision large and wide, and he seemed determined to leave his stamp on the presidency he was about to enter.

Would his connection with the missile programme send a ``wrong signal'' as alleged by the Left presidential candidate, Lakshmi Sahgal? How did nuclear India reconcile with the non-violence preached by Mahatma Gandhi? Are India's nuclear weapons ``safe''?

``The right signal was the use of technology to develop the nation,'' he said. He was not simply the bomb man.

He had worked with the space and satellite launch programme for better communications, yes, he had worked on missile technology and, more recently, his ambition was to teach the young.

He wanted people to develop a scientific temper, and he read from the Constitution to prove the point that that would be his constitutional duty as President.

Why a nuclear weapon? For 3000 years India had been invaded, more lately the English, the French, the Portuguese and even the Dutch were able to set up colonies. ``They came with guns, we had only swords, now our neighbours have nuclear bombs, we need a minimum deterrent... no first use, minimum deterrent, no further tests, that is our nuclear policy ... and our safety record is very good, safety standards are in position.''

Why worry about the few nuclear bombs India may have, why not talk about the 10,000 nuclear warheads across the Atlantic, he asked.

He was diplomatic enough not to be drawn on issues such as the recent India-Pakistan tension (``very sensitive issue, we should not discuss this'', but he did add that ``the last war did not take place because we had nuclear weapons'' — nuclear weapons had helped avert a war.)

`Technology a major tool'

How would a scientist like him cope with politics and his duties in the Rashtrapati Bhavan? It was not a new thing for him, he had worked with six Prime Ministers and, according to him, ``a political system should create responsible leadership, empowered citizens, and lead to policies that develop the nation.'' He hoped technology would be one of the major tools for India's development and as President he could ``work with Parliament and the Cabinet'' on this.

As for learning politics, that should be easy: ``since last Sunday (June 9) my experience with politics has been that it was like trying to launch a missile which must correctly hit its target,'' he said, and in the days to come he would learn it.An RSS journal has praised him as a ``model Muslim'' but clearly he was not impressed, saying: ``first and foremost, one should be a good human being, every other element — Indian, Muslim, Hindu can be part of that.''

On the Gujarat carnage Dr. Kalam said: ``What has happened is very painful... We should prevent it at all costs. I can only say religion should graduate into spiritual inquiry, managers must become leaders, and political leaders must have compassion.'' He refused to be drawn into specific questions on the role of the Modi Government.

He talked about the need for 100 per cent literacy, for development and higher GDP and implied that would resolve the problem of communalism.

But when it was pointed out that Hitler's Germany was literate and highly developed, and that fascism could not be stopped by development, Dr. Kalam continued to reel off some GDP figures and talked of education, health, agriculture and food processing.

Finally, Dr. Kalam related an anecdote: he was a schoolboy on August 15, 1947, the day's newspaper carried two photographs — Nehru unfurling the national flag and Mahatma Gandhi marching barefoot in Noakhali trying to quell the communal disturbances. It was the photograph of Gandhiji that left a lasting impression on him. ``Political leadership with compassion'' he emphasised again.

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