The Central government should come clean on whether the country’s stated policy on use of nuclear weapons has changed, said All India Congress Committee(AICC) General Secretary Digvijaya Singh here on Friday.
He was responding to Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar’s loud thinking on Thursday questioning the merits of being bound to the ‘no-first-use’ doctrine vis-a-vis nuclear weapons.
“The Prime Minister and the government of India must come clean on this. Have they changed the stated policy of the Government of India as far as first use of nuclear weapons is concerned,” Mr. Singh asked on the sidelines of a Goa Congress organisational meet here. Mr. Singh is in-charge of Congress affairs in Goa.
“First use of our nuclear arsenal is contrary to the stated policy of the Government of India. We are a land which believes in the Gandhian principles of non violence and we have always believed in disarmament policy of nuclear weapons initiated by Rajiv Gandhi,” Mr. Singh said and added, “Mr. Parrikar has been making irresponsible statements as Defence Minister.
Earlier, the Goa Congress Rajya Sabha MP Shantaram Naik also attacked Mr. Parrikar for raising a question mark on India’s nuclear policy and said he has no right to remain Defence Minister.
Mr. Parrikar on Thursday that it was his personal opinion that having a stated policy on the use of nuclear weapons would be tantamount to giving away “strength.” He asked why India shouldn’t simply say it wouldn’t use its nuclear capabilities irresponsibly, instead of committing to a ‘no first-use policy.’
He, however, also clarified that this was his personal view, and that government policy hadn’t changed.
