NEW YORK: Former Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee has called for a review of India’s foreign policy taking into consideration the new realities of Post-Cold War era. “Nonalignment has lost its luster and utility,” he said criticizing the Deve Gowda Government for not withdrawing India’s candidature for nonpermanent seat in the UN Security Council after it became clear that there was no chance for a victory. “We expected support from nonaligned countries (for the seat), but that did not materialize,” he told newsmen on Sunday. Vajpayee said when Deve Gowda assumed office, India’s defeat for the seat had become evident but the Government failed to take the reality of international situation into consideration. The leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, however, said “India’s defeat did not mean that its standing in the international community has suffered a serious blow.” “Economic issues are dominating the world agenda and countries, whether in Asia or Africa, must have thought that it was in their interest to vote for Japan,” he added.
Japan is said to have used its money power to win the vote of majority of the Third World countries to gather votes for the seat. Emphasizing that the world situation has changed, the BJP leader said it should be realized that it is either military or economic strength that counts. “Unfortunately, we are not yet a military power. Our economic situation is improving but we are not yet a donor country,” he said. Vajpayee rejected the view that India’s stand on the Comprehensive (nuclear) Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) contributed to its defeat. “If that was so, Australia, which actively worked for its adoption, should have been elected,” he quipped.
However, he said India’s case was strong as South Korea is already a member and it is now joined by Japan. As a result, South Asia now goes unrepresented, he added. “I have confidence that the Government of India will analyze why our show was so poor— only forty votes,” he said. Vajpayee, who answered a wide range of questions, spoke about necessity of making India economically and militarily strong, exercising nuclear option, making working of the government, especially awards of contracts, transparent to tackle the evil of corruption.
Article extracted from this publication >> October 30, 1996
