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No security threat when I stepped down: Gujral

Former prime minister Inder Kumar Gujral asserted on Friday that there was no threat to the country's security when he demitted office on March 19 this year and that the Bharatiya Janata Party-led coalition government went for the nuclear tests not on security perceptions, but for 'political and partisan considerations'.

Participating in the three-day-long debate in the Lok Sabha on the Pokhran tests, Gujral demanded that Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee explain to the nation his statement that India has become a nuclear weapons state. He said there was a distinction between weaponisation and militarisation of nuclear weapons.

Expressing concern over what he termed as a nuclear arms race in the Indian sub-continent, Gujral wanted New Delhi to make a unilateral announcement of no-first-use of nuclear weapons against nations which do not have them.

The Janata Dal leader, who was highly critical of the ruling coalition for carrying out the Pokhran tests, hailed the scientists and engineers for the achievement.

''However, is not an irony that attempts are being made to build a temple at the blast site and carry Pokhran sand around the country?'' he asked. He observed that such an approach only enhances obscurantism and dampens the scientific temper.

''I am worried about the future of science in India if such obscurantism continues,'' he said, demanding sizeable allocations for scientific research and development.

Gujral voiced concern over the government's style of functioning saying that it was speaking in five voices. He said ministers should exhibit some maturity and dignity of the office they hold.

He said the ruling coalition leaders's war-mongering and jinogism were taking the country to the brink of war.

He cautioned the government against the fall of the rupee in relation to the dollar and said the country should be aware of what happened in Indonesia where the rupiah was manipulated and confusion let loose.

He said India does not want war and the policy of jingoism had no place in the present situation, adding that enthusiasm without sense was highly dangerous. Gujral said that bravado without logic was self-destructive.

The former prime minister, who was heard with rap attention, was at pains to warn the government against designs to play the China card.

He was of the opinion that India should not speak the way Pakistan reacts as New Delhi has to play a definite role in world peace. He said India's foreign policy should not be Pakistan-centric as was being done by the new regime.

According to him, it is easy to get into a nuclear arms race. ''But, to get out, will be a tedious task.''

UNI

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