Monday, May 12, 2008

The needless controversy over Pokhran II

Recently, Brajesh Mishra said to press -" Weaponisation was started by Rajiv Gandhi". Congress made a hue and cry over this.

I can't understand. This is not a revealing fact, but a fact revealed by Vajpayee himself after the tests. Look at what Vajpayee said - "This is not one person's job. It is a team work. Narasimha Rao had asked me to conduct the test". Vajpayee aptly made it clear that dates for the test were decided as early as 1995, but could not happen because of US pressure and that he considered his primary responsibility to go nuclear under any cost.

Now, Congress says "Brajesh Mishra is an important man. Whatever he says there is some accountability in it." Some even said, "It was the Congress which was for nuclear test from the beginning, BJP just exploded it".

Now, I wonder why Congress is making an issue out of it. Let Congress question or debate the below points:

1) Vajpayee already has accepted and given credit to Narasimha Rao.

2) Why Congress can't understand or appreciate the fact that Vajpayee used covertness to keep the testing a secret. It is not completion of action that matters, but the way it is done. So covert was the test that even US spy satellites failed to detect. Isn't this great?

3) Congress forgets this fact above. Further, it doesn't want even to celebrate 10 years of Pokhran. This is the worst way of discrediting not just Vajpayee, but also Indira Gandhi (their party's tallest leader). Forget leaders, it is the worst way of discrediting nuclear scientists of our country.

4) If Narasimha Rao knew how deception could be done he should have gone ahead in 1996 when he asked scientists the second time.

5) Forget it...Congress leaders or any party leader can never match the broad mindedness and statesmanship of Vajpayee who stood for the country across party lines on several issues of national interest and integrity.

6) As a concluding fact, Congress has forgotten that when tests were conducted - they took so much time to come to a conclusion. Just for the sake of opposition they even forgot to initally appreciate the fact that we became nuclear. On the contrary they started making statements - "This is going to bring in arms race". In contrast both vajpayee and Advani praised Indira Gandhi when we conducted first test in 1974.

7) It is also interesting to note that Vajpayee went ahead despite confirmed economic sanctions from US as a consequence. Not only this, he convinced US to lift sanctions after their imposition. . It is here Vajpayee scores and Narasimha Rao scores for the fact that he made a very brave decision at that time.

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