By IANS,
New Delhi : A day after former external affairs minister Jaswant Singh suggested that India should revisit its “no first use” policy for nuclear weapons, National Security Advisor Shiv Shankar Menon said Wednesday he will contact the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and ask for alternatives.
“We will ask him what is the alternative and take it from there,” Menon said in an interaction with reporters at the Indian Women’s Press Corps here.
Initiating the debate in parliament on the demand for grants for the external affairs ministry, Jaswant Singh Tuesday said India’s doctrine of no-first use was “greatly in need of revision”.
India has a policy of no-first use primarily against non-nuclear weapon states.
At the same time, India retains the option of using nuclear weapons in case of a major attack by biological and chemical weapons. These had been enshrined in the official nuclear doctrine released in January 2003.