NEW DELHI: Narasimha Rao on June 11 said the Government would not give up the option of nuclear weapons but urged political parties not to incite popular sentiments on the question of the country’s nuclear option.
“These are weapons of mass-destruction and one should not play with such issues” the Congress President and Prime Minister cautioned while wrapping up the proceedings of the two-day All India Congress Committee (AICC) meeting here on Saturday.
Without naming the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) which had demanded that the country produce nuclear weapons Rao said such demands betrayed attempts at one up man ship
Rao asserted that India would keep its option open on a nuclear bomb. “One has to look around and consider the changing situation in the world on nuclear disarmament” he added
Quoting Jawaharlal Nehru Rao said that India could not give up the option of producing a bomb and reiterated that the nuclear option should not be given up.
The Prime Minister said it was not that some countries should have nuclear weapons and others not the countries which have nuclear weapons should reduce their arsenals. Those who are on the threshold of making it should ton making the bombs. he said_ He suggested that different timeframes be stipulated for various countries to achieve complete disarmament while referring to the initiative taken by Rajiv Gandhi in this regard.
AICC Unrest: Meanwhile the concluding session of the two-day AICC meeting witnessed commotion in the galleries occupied by the special invitees (not members of the AICC) from Bihar and UP as some of them unsuccessfully tried to raise organizational matters pertaining to the two States while Rao was addressing the gathering. “This demonstrates how much our party workers love their (State) leaders” Rao remarked and thunderous clapping from all sections
During the two-day session it became amply clear that everything was not well in the party units in UP and Bihar the unrest became manifest during the two day session and unless the leader ship takes dynamic indicatives in the two States the unrest might the form of a serious rebellion in the two crucial States that account for nearly one fourth of the Total Number of seats in Lok Sabha.
With the introduction of Panchayati Raj system which recognized village as units Rao urged the party to consolidate itself in Villages and not recruit members from urban areas alone. If such an Organization was built up opened have to run around in jeeps to Garner votes he said
Amid yet another round of applause from all sections of the audience Rao said-“I am not bothered whether a PCC President or a DCC President remained in office… I want Congressmen at the village level to do their job properly” At Least on this pretext the leaders would visit the villages. The villagers would get the opportunities to see big Ieaders” he remarked.
Article extracted from this publication >> June 17, 1994
