ELECTIONS '98
COMMENTARY
SPECIALS
INTERVIEWS
CAPITAL BUZZ
REDIFF POLL
DEAR REDIFF
THE STATES
YEH HAI INDIA!
ARCHIVES

Parties welcome N-tests

The Bharatiya Janata Party and some of its allies today hailed the three nuclear tests conducted at Pokhran but Opposition parties quickly denounced them as ''wasteful'' and ''an attempt to divert the people's attention from real problems.''

Union Minister for Science and Technology Murli Manohar Joshi said the nuclear tests would help the country attain its right place in the comity of nations.

Reacting to the tests, Dr Joshi said the testing of three devices on the same day was noteworthy.

Congratulating the scientists involved in the successful tests, he said, "We are proud of our scientists and have full faith that they will ensure that the country move to the next millennium with a sense of self-confidence and self-reliance."

BJP president Kushabhau Thakre said in a statement that the tests indicated the government's commitment to ''uphold national security and demonstrated that unlike previous regimes, it shall not give in to international pressure.''

Thakre said the nuclear tests were an assertion of the sovereign right of India to ''decide for ourselves how best to meet security concerns and a repudiation of the policy of nuclear apartheid that the West sought to impose on us.''

A close ally of the BJP, Haryana Chief Minister Bansi Lal welcomed the tests as ''the right step in the right direction.''

Former president of the Bharatiya Jana Sangh, Balraj Madhok, congratulated Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and his government for the successful testing of what he described as a ''vital necessity.''

Madhok said the step was long overdue for the country which is surrounded by nuclear countries like China and Pakistan. He expressed confidence that the whole country would stand by the government and the prime minister would not pay heed to criticism by ''nuclear monopolists.''

In sharp contrast, the All-India Forward Bloc said the tests were an attempt to divert the attention of the people and was unnecessary at this point.

''The tests would aggravate the unethical race for nuclear arms and was a threat to all peace loving people,'' AIFB national secretary G Devarajan said.

The United Front urged the goverment to launch a diplomatic offensive to counter the fall-out of the nuclear tests but complimented the Indian scientists on having accomplished yet another first-rate technological feat.

''India has been a de facto nuclear weapon state for more than two decades, and with this development the status has become de jure," front spokesperson S Jaipal Reddy said, adding that the difference between the two is not substantial.

Reacting to the nuclear tests conducted today, Reddy said it was not the first time the country has demonstrated its nuclear capability, and the first explosion was conducted way back in 1974. ''We as a nation have been upgrading the nuclear weapons capability while resisting the temptation of exercising the nuclear option. Successive governments have, however, taken care to keep the nuclear options open,'' he said.

Reddy hoped the international community would take steps to destroy all weapons of mass destruction.

Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Sharad Pawar, today congratulated the scientific community led by Dr A P J Abdul Kalam for successfully conducting the three underground nuclear tests.

Asked by newspersons for his reaction, the senior Congress leader said Prime Minister Vajpayee had just informed him about the sucessful conduct of the test.

"India's policy is adherence to peace and its nuclear programme is also for peace," he added.

The Congress party congratulated the nuclear scientists and engineers for the demonstration of the country's scientific prowess once again by the successful testing of three nuclear devices.

Recalling that the first Pokhran test of May 1974 was conducted during the prime ministership of Indira Gandhi, the Congress said in a statement that it was an assertion of India's independence and its nuclear capability. ''India has always maintained that we will keep our nuclear options open,'' the statement said.

''We have always taken a principled stand on the nuclear issue. We have been urging the elimination of nuclear weapons within a time-bound framework since the action plan for a nuclear-weapons-free and Non-violent world order was presented to the United Nations by Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi in 1988. That continues to be the sheet anchor of our nuclear weapons policy,'' the statement said.

Congress general secretary Madhavrao Scindia said every sovereign country had to take adequate steps to safeguard its security keeping in mind the environment in the region.

''I warmly congratulate the brilliant scientists and engineers behind this very successful scientific experiment which demonstrates India's technological advance,'' he said, adding that the tests were the logical culmination of the process initiated in May 1974 by Indira Gandhi.

Rajasthan Chief Minister Bhairon Singh Shekhawat said the tests were a loud and clear signal of India's prowess in the nuclear field.

UNI

Tell us what you think of this report