Prime Minister I K Gujral has said the relationship between the Congress and the United Front is harmonious and friendly after the change in government.
The relationship between the Congress and thf UF has always been an inevitability from the day the government was formed under Deve Gowdaji. Because only then the mathematics of majority works out.
It was unfortunate that there were some misunderstandings. Since then also after the change in the government, the relationship between the Congress and UF Is harmonious and friendly, he said in an interview.
The Prime Minister's remarks assume significance in the context of the Congress parliamentary party executive's decision yesterday to express unhappiness over the performance of the Gujral government and to raise certain issues during the monsoon session of Parliament.
But Gujral declined to comment on the speculation that Congress president Sitaram Kesri was waiting for the Front to split so that he could form a Congress-led government. I don't comment on speculations, he said.
The Prime Minister said he was running a government which was harmonious and a coalition which was harmonious. I am getting the support of all those parties which are supporting us from inside and outside.
To a question about a feeling that elements within the Front were attempting to wreck the arrangement with Congress, he said he had seen media speculations on the issue but he would not respond to them.
The Prime Minister said he was running a government which was harmonious and a coalition that too was harmonious. I am getting the support of all those parties which are supporting us from inside and outside.
To a question about the feeling that elements within the Front were attempting to wreck the arrangement with Congress, he said he had seen media speculations on the issue but he would not respond to them.
Asked whether he felt coalition politics has come to stay in India, Gujral said I think it is yes, the way things are moving.
Many countries the world over were multi-party democracies but there were few among them where single-party government was in power, he said.
Even in India, from 1989 every government has been an overt or covert coalition. I don't think we can move away from it.
Gujral said at the moment the country did not want to go to polls and was gradually learning the art of consensus.
Reacting to the recent US nuclear test and test firing of the Hatf-III missile by Pakistan, Gujral asserted that India's nuclear options are open and that the Agni missile programme has not been shelved.
Describing the CTBT as a charade, Gujral said India's nuclear option is open till the world moves towards abolition of nuclear weapons on a programmatic basis and not rhetorically.
On the testing firing of the Hatf-III missile, which is capable of carrying nuclear weapons and targeting major cities in India, he said it was New Delhi's assessment that Pakistan has perhaps not yet reached a stage when they can do it on their own and that the test firing was primarily based on materials supplied by China. Stating that he was not worried by these developments, as India was very sure about its security, Gujral said the Chinese help in Pakistan's missile programme would be kept in mind in the country's defence preparedness. During the wide-ranging 75-minute interview, the Prime Minister also affirmed that India would not be a party to the fissile material cut-off treaty (FMCT). CTBT and FMCTt were closely inter-linked, one being a reflection of the other, he added.
Gujral, however, appeared to leave open the question of India's participation in FMCT negotiations in Geneva, saying generally speaking India does not shy away from negotiations and participates in talks.
Answering a question on the usefulness of the dialogue with Pakistan when that country continued to aid terrorism in Kashmir and Punjab, the Prime Minister said he had serious apprehensions about Islamabad's support to terrorism in India.
Apparently referring to the recent bomb blasts in Punjab, in which Pakistani hand was suspected, he said such incidents were a strain on the process of talks. But the dialogue could be beneficial to both.
The Prime Minister said we have differences with Pakistan. There is no doubt about it. We have serious apprehensions about their support to terrorism in India. We have evidence they are doing it. What is happening in the last few days is causing concern.
He said there were elements in Pakistan who did not want to see that there was a continuous strategy towards peace (with India). Everybody knows that within Pakistan there are various divergent forces active to neutralise moves made by the process of dialogue for creating better atmosphere. It (talks) is difficult but we are feeling it can be beneficial to both. Asked how he viewed the Chinese help to Pakistan since the Chinese had M-11 missiles, Gujral said it is a long history. This history began from 1962 onwards and they have very close cooperation not not only in the supply of missiles but in various other things. That is also one reality. Keeping that in mind we will take care of our preparedness.
He said he wanted to assure the nation that the country's defence preapredness is upto the mark. While we are a peace-loving nation and we have no designs on anybody because we don't want to disturb peace. At the same time we cannot and have not ignored our defence requirements.
About the talks process with Pakistan, for which he had taken new initiatives, the Prime Minister said when we talk in terms of Indian foreign policy what we have been doing in the last 14 months is to try to renew relationships in the south Asian neighbourhood so that all of us together may benefit from a new atmosphere of friendship.
Now the reality is there no region or country in the world which can say it is independent. Therefore we find regional cooperation to be the order of the day be it in Europe, Latin America, Africa, ASEAN or the Gulf.
We have Saarc with us for a decade. But now there is a qualitative change in the Saarc. We have confidence in each other. We have policies for mutual benefit. We have decided that by 2001 we will induct free trade zone. This is something between India and Pakistan.
Gujral said naturally when there is a long history of the type that existed between India and Pakistan, it will take time and patience on both sides. When we try to evolve new relationships there are many contentious issues which are outstanding on which we have very strong feelings.
The Prime Minister said the world experience is that once one enters into a dialogue and conducts it with patience, though it could take time, ultimately it leads to evolving something which takes the countries towards realising benefits of cooperation.
Asked whether the defence minister's statement that the programme relating to Agni missile had not been shelved, would mean further tests were likely to be carried out, he said he did not want to give a statement on what the specialists would say. It depends on what the experts would say. But the defence minister's statement was part of policy he said.
Asked whether further tests of Agni are not ruled out, he said I wouldn't say that.
To a question on how he viewed the US nuclear test in defiance of the CTBT, the Prime Minister said India had been saying from the beginning when the debate on CTBT began that it was a charade. It is neither comprehensive nor does it ban tests, he said citing India's stand.
The Prime Minister said he had stated these views here, in the United Nations and elsewhere and he stood vindicated.
They are only changing the technology of tests and that is why our line was and continues that a ban must be mid-term with elimination of nuclear materials. These tests that are now being undertaken by different means by highly sophisticated technology with zero faults would only mean making the weapons more sophisticated.
And this is a matter of concern and strengthens perhaps all those who think the world will sleep only when nuclear weapons are banished.
Gujral said India is one of them. India believes firmly that nuclear security of all the world will be the same when nuclear weapons are abolished. At the same time the high priests of CTBT and FMCT have two standards "" one for themselves and one for others.
