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Rajiv Shukla

Vajpayeeji please do not become a Saddam Hussain!

By now, I am sure, Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee would be half-deaf. His eardrums have taken a remarkable amount of beating these past 12 days -- not from the nuclear blasts in Pokhran, no, but what he should/could/need do about it henceforth. Well, into this ocean of helpful hints, advices, suggestions and whatnots which the poor man is drowning in, let me also add my bit.

My humble request to the big man is this: Please do not become a Saddam Hussain however much your party colleagues persuade you. Please. Your government has done a good job by giving the nod for the five tests -- now let the matter rest.

Thankfully, Vajpayee has not given any indication of following in the aforementioned gentleman's footsteps -- but my worry is in view of certain BJP leaders statements. For some reason, these worthies seem to relish the thought of a head-on collision with the US. Their remarks -- which, incidentally, is causing much heartburn in the finance ministry -- are not against the American government, but the nation as a whole. A number of private companies in the US are against the sanctions. They are in constant touch with the Indian finance ministry, but the slogans by the BJP leaders against America, Japan and Germany are creating hostility in them. I mean, which national would like to hear his/her country being abused left, right, centre and centre to left?

The BJP leadership, so, need to be very careful about its post-blast attitude. It accomplished what it set out to accomplish, so why wave it in the world's face and create unnecessary tension? Can't it just shut up and let things be?

But no, they have plans. Big plans. To make political mileage out of it.

At the district level, they propose to 'celebrate' the nuke tests. Every day hundreds of people are being brought to the PM's house, to create news, to drive into the nation's mind it was Vajpayee, a BJP man, who was responsible for the India exposing its nuclear biceps -- and never you forget that. The BJP need not do all this. They should know the people have already credited the party with the accomplishment and are solidly behind it. Why hammer a well-nailed nail over and over? The party has got plenty of mileage -- now if it gets greedy and try for more, the whole thing may boomerang.

Everybody knows that the reverberations of a nuclear programme cannot be repaired just like that. It will take time, just as it took years for preparing for the tests. All governments contributed to the programme. Luckily for the BJP, it got the entire credit because its leadership gave the consent for the blasts. Now the government should concentrate on damage control exercise in the economic area.

India should not underestimate the sanctions. These may cause a lot of financial problems for the country in the coming months. I do not agree with the statements of certain Union ministers that it would cause more harm to America, Germany and Japan because India wouldn't be importing from them. Do these ministers know that India's share in the global trade is only 0.8 per cent, which is nothing?

Indian industrialists and businessmen are very worried -- the sensex is one obvious indication. Under the circumstances, what the Vajpayee government should try to do is reduce tension. Like France did immediately after its tests. The authorities should try to build a conducive atmosphere to begin negotiations for the CTBT. There shouldn't be any harm in showing our inclination towards the CTBT -- after all, what India wanted was to show (and be sure of) was our nuclear might. That has been accomplished. Now the economic situation should be the top priority.

Thus, the coming Budget should be one which would lure in foreign investors. If the economic situation deteriorates and prices shoot up, the people will forget the pride of the nuclear explosion. Indira Gandhi had also got the same popularity in 1974 after the first tests, but in six months she became so unpopular that she had to impose an Emergency later.

Thus far, Vajpayee's approach has been very balanced. He has played it cool. But some hardliners in his party are trying to push him into behaving like Saddam Hussain. Delhi Chief Minister Sahib Singh Verma's advertisement on behalf of his government is a case in point.

So Vajpayeeji, please do be careful, please, please don't flatter our friend in Iraq!

Rajiv Shukla