By IANS
New Delhi : Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has said he had the “courage of conviction” to do what he was doing but regretted the attitude of parties like the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) that even wished him death.
The prime minister made the stunning revelation in an interview published in India Today. The interview was however conducted over two months ago.
“It requires a big leap in approach and the attitude of the BJP is disappointing. They didn’t even believe I would last as the prime minister and some leaders even did ‘havans’ (special prayers) that I should die on a certain day,” the published interview quoted Singh as saying.
Singh gave the interview in June while returning from the G-8 summit in Germany on board his special aircraft with the understanding that excerpts of it could be published once the 123 Agreement with the US was reached. The latest issue hit the stands Friday.
“But I have faith in a higher force. I believe it was my destiny to be prime minister. I have the courage of conviction,” he said in the interview.
BJP spokesperson, Vijay Kumar Malhotra denied that ‘havans’ were organised by his party.
“We are a democratic party and cannot stoop to such low levels. The language used by the prime minister is simply unthinkable.”
However, Congress spokesman Abhishek Singhvi said the comments by Singh revealed the “true face” of an irresponsible party.
“Here is the true face of the BJP. The party could not simply digest the fact that they lost the 2004 general elections.”
The revelations came on a day of dramatic developments with the opposition National Democratic Alliance convenor George Fernandes making some disparaging remarks Thursday against Singh, in which he said that if Singh was in China, he would have been shot in the head by a bullet for his actions.
Fernandes said Singh had “betrayed” the nation by “continuous bluffing” on the Indo-US nuclear deal and if it were in China “they would have settled it with one bullet in his head”.
His remark led to a huge uproar in parliament leading to several adjournments.
But an unrepentant Fernandes refused to apologise or withdraw his remarks.
“What should I apologise for?” he shot back, “you should talk carefully.”
“What I have said in the statement is that the way our prime minister had spoken lies. Had an American president done that he would have been removed. And had someone done that in China, he would have been shot dead by a bullet,” he said.
Singh, who has been under attack from the BJP-led opposition and the Left allies over the nuclear deal, claimed in the interview that the nuclear deal was a “logical fallout” of the Next Steps in Strategic Partnership that the NDA government headed by Atal Bihari Vajpayee had begun with the US.
“It was an outcome of that process… while we had successfully made nuclear weapons, on the power front, there were too many shifting targets. We had set a target of 10,000 MW of nuclear power almost 35 years ago and now we have only around 3,700 MW. The deal would help us meet our targets for nuclear power,” he said.
In the same interview, Singh also made his stand clear on India’s stand on nuclear testing with respect to the civil nuclear deal.
Singh made it clear to US President George W. Bush during negotiations on the Indo-US nuclear deal that India could not agree to a “bilateral” NPT or the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT).
He said it was not in India’s interest for Iran to become a nuclear weapons power, although it had the right to have nuclear energy as an NPT member.
“I told President Bush, I can’t be a cheerleader or be part of a war-mongering group. The nuclear dispute with Iran should be resolved through peaceful processes,” Singh said.
Singh recalled that the US president had told him in July 2005, “Don’t expect me to help you to build bombs. I told him I didn’t expect the US to do that because with our previous achievements, we didn’t need anyone’s help.”
The prime minister said: “I made it clear during the negotiations that we can’t agree to a bilateral NPT or CTBT. We have a unilateral moratorium on nuclear testing and we will exercise restraint.”
Describing Bush as a “very easy person” to deal with, Singh said: “He is very nice to me and of all the US presidents, he is the friendliest towards India.”
Noting that the US had become the “sole superpower” almost 15 years back, he said: “But all these years, no Indian government had the courage to change our policy towards the US.”
It was felt during critical foreign policy reviews that Indo-US relations were the key in a globalised world and “we needed to give them the highest importance. We have stayed the course.”