The Hindu : Vajpayee opposed move to resume nuclear programme in 1979: Congress

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Apr 03, 2004

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Vajpayee opposed move to resume nuclear programme in 1979: Congress

By Our New Delhi Bureau

NEW DELHI, APRIL 2. The Congress today demanded that the Prime Minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, publicly state why as the External Affairs Minister in 1979 he had opposed the move to resume the country's nuclear programme, while later taking credit for the nuclear tests in May 1998.

The party spokesperson, Kapil Sibal, said that the defence analyst, K. Subrahmanyam, had mentioned that the Indian intelligence in 1979 picked up information on the rapid progress in Pakistan's covert nuclear weapons programme. The matter was reported to the Cabinet Secretariat by the Joint Intelligence Committee, of which Mr. Subrahmanyam was the chairman, with the recommendation that India resume its own nuclear programme, frozen after the peaceful explosion in Pokharan in 1974.

The matter, the Congress said, went to the Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs, comprising the then Prime Minister, Morarji Desai, Charan Singh, Jagjivan Ram, H.M. Patel and Mr. Vajpayee. ``The issue was voted upon and by a thin majority of 3:2, India's nuclear programme was put back on track. Those who voted for it were Charan Singh, Jagjivan Ram and H.M. Patel. It is ironic that those who voted against India resuming its nuclear programme were the then Prime Minister Morarji Desai and his Foreign Minister, A.B. Vajpaye,'' the Congress said in a statement.

The party charged that had Mr. Vajpayee had his way, the country would never have continued with its nuclear programme. Mr. Sibal also said that the May 11 and May 13, 1998, nuclear tests, for which the Bharatiya Janata Party and Mr. Vajpayee were taking credit, would not have occurred.

``Mr. Vajpayee must explain why he voted against India's nuclear programme being put back on track. He owes an explanation to the people, especially in the context of his unjust criticism of the Congress party and his appropriating for himself and for the BJP the credit for detonation of the nuclear devices in 1998,'' the party said.

The Congress asserted that credit, if at all, must go to itself. It said the courage and conviction of Indira Gandhi should be lauded — she had decreed that the experiment for the peaceful explosion be carried out on May 18, 1974.

The BJP joined issue with the Congress and charged the main Opposition party with ``politicising'' an important national security issue. The BJP spokesperson, Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, wondered whether the Congress wanted to place the ``nuclear button'' in the hands of a ``foreigner.''

Mr. Naqvi said the Vajpayee Government had fulfilled its promise of making India a nuclear power ``within 100 days'' of coming to power. This the Government had done despite international pressure and the threat of economic sanctions. It had made ``no compromise with national security'', he asserted.

``We do not need a certificate from the Congress; since the Jana Sangh days, the party's views on the subject are clear.''

He dismissed as ``not credible'' the Congress assertion that Mr. Vajpayee, as the External Affairs Minister in the Janata Party Government, had expressed himself against India continuing with its nuclear programme.

Mr. Naqvi described this as compromising the national security interests and ``politicising'' the matter.

Asked whether the people had the right to know, he replied in the affirmative. He ``doubted'' Mr. Subrahmanyam's assertion and said that this was ``not credible.''

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