NUCLEAR EXPLOSIONS AND INDIA (old post 15th May 1998)

There is a lot of noise after the nuclear explosions by India. Some thought that its the dawn of a new era and some considered it to be a step towards doomsday. World was shocked, delighted and angry.

In short we have seen every kind of reactions from various people and nations.

We all know that nuclear arms are bad regardless of the fact that they belong to India or Pakistan or US. And for that matter all the arms are bad, or is it? Arms cannot do anything unless there is a man using it. Once discovered its very difficult to ban a lethal weapon. Even if countries sign treaties and all, you will always find somebody, some terrorist group using it.


Nuclear arms are no different. You need somebody to push the trigger. And if USA has the option of pushing the trigger, why not other nations. Bill Clinton mentioned our country as a fifty year old democracy. He need to be told that we are one of the oldest civilizations. If its the years
that count we are way ahead of a 200 yr old country.


There should not be any emotional outbursts in a rational discussion, but then, had man been rational, world would have been a better place to live in. There would not be any poverty, illiteracy, religion etc They all come because we are not rational beings. I am not trying to defend
BJP but don't we all want India to be peace-loving & prosperous country?


Peace comes with a price tag. Our neighbours occupied our territories in exchange for peace. Also we need to maintain so much vigilance on Borders to maintain peace. If the World is so peaceful, why waste so much money on Army. Why don't we close down Army and use the gun factories for making utensils. (Nehru did the same before Chinese invasion)


Is Nuclear option so much costly? I read one of the scientists saying that it will cost one crore a piece. Dirty Cheap considering their devastating power. Now we do not need to fear Ghauris and Ghaznis. Somnath temple is safe.


There are reports of some demonstrations in the Capital and noises around the world that the South Asia need to be free of Arms race, free of nuclear arms. But why only south Asia. The people from other parts may decide to use them in this part of World. What about that? I know you are getting a heavy dose of opinions from various newspapers and magazines. Truely speaking this is not a military policy but the countries' policy as a whole.


Commies do not understand Capitalism, they think its something bad. But India has to live with it. And we need to get the best of that. You see its all market driven. A country's military strength is also one of the factors which investors see before they thir money in. Had we remained a non-player in international arena, we could have faced some real problems.


China is our friend. That's what I was told by commies. They attacked us because we could not have managed that particular strip of land that they captured. And that they stopped when they felt, they have help helped us.


Come out of your dream, China stopped the aggression because USSR told them that they had enough. Its only our goodwill with USSR that saved us. No other country came to our rescue. That's when China did not have the Nuclear Bomb.


Now, with China having their bases on both sides of our border, I mean in Pakistan as well as China; what do you want our defence experts to do, the same thing as Hindus did when Abdali attacked India. They went to temple to pray so that God shall stop Abdali. "Sorry God helps those, who help themselves"

Dated 15th May 1998