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India does not rule out more N-tests

Rajesh Ramachandran in New Delhi

India does not rule out further nuclear tests. The prime minister's political advisor, Pramod Mahajan, says the planned series of nuclear tests are over, but he cannot vouch for nuclear tests in future.

"We have already told you that the planned series is over. I am not aware of what will happen in the future," Mahajan said on Saturday.

Mahajan struck a moderate posture, and said the government does not consider the country's relations with the US as strained.

"Even if President Clinton appeals to the G-8 summit to impose collective sanctions against India, I wouldn't say that Indo-US relations are fractured. We conducted tests based on our security perception. The US imposed sanctions based on their laws. So there is no tension in Indo-US relations," he said.

US officials had earlier commented that India cannot call itself a nuclear weapon power since only the club of five is entitled to that status. Mahajan refuted this, and said the country needs nobody's certificate that it is a nuclear power.

"Any country which has the capacity to make nuclear weapons is a nuclear power, even if it doesn't conform to any definition. India, now, is a nuclear power," he said.

Eluding all questions on the Bharatiya Janata party's celebrations today on successfully testing the nuclear device, Mahajan said the party was not drawing political mileage out of the tests: "But we cannot stop our party, or any party, from celebrating the moment of national pride, quote Sonia Gandhi."

Meanwhile, the Congress's turnaround on the nuclear issue is directly attributed to its president, Sonia Gandhi.

"She sensed the groundswell and was quick in retracing her earlier stand. See, at this point if she criticises the BJP government's action, the Congress wouldn't be able to claim credit for the country's ongoing nuclear policy which to a great extent is its," says a party insider.

In fact, the Congress stopped asking questions about the test's timing and provocation when the BJP pointed out that it had never questioned Indira Gandhi on the 1974 test.

Moreover, the massive public support for the tests had also unnerved the Congress high command. Interestingly, the turnaround came after Sonia's meeting with Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee on Wednesday, which was kept low profile by both the sides.

Before the nuclear explosion, speculation was rife that the Congress was ready to topple the government after the Budget session of Parliament.

But the new move from Sonia indicates a shift in her attitude. Also, the BJP would be the ultimate gainer in case of any destabilisation now since it can wear the halo of a martyr for the nuclear cause.

If the Congress had taken a negative stand, it would have invited the charge of being anti-national, which would stick particularly because the BJP had been harping on her foreign origins in the run-up to the general election.

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