The Hindu : Front Page : We will not buckle under pressure: Manmohan

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Feb 02, 2006

Front Page

Front Page

We will not buckle under pressure: Manmohan

Harish Khare

``Enlightened national interest guides foreign policy; division of labour with Sonia Gandhi is working well''

PHOTO: V. SUDERSHAN

SPEAKING OUT: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh addressing a press conference in New Delhi on Wednesday.

New Delhi: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said here on Wednesday that "enlightened national interest" guided his Government's foreign policy and "we will not [buckle], have not buckled under" any kind of external pressure.

Addressing his second "national press conference" at the Vigyan Bhavan here, he said his coalition Government was stable despite some "expected tensions" with the Left parties. He predicted that his Government would complete its five-year term. The "division of labour" between him and Congress president Sonia Gandhi was "working well." She had a "legitimate" role and "she was a source of strength, not a source of weakness for me."

Dr. Singh claimed credit for sound economic management and said the country was inching towards a growth of eight to 10 per cent. He cited the National Rural Employment Guarantee Programme, the Right to Information Act and the National Rural Health Mission among the major achievements of his Government.

Answering a number of questions on ties with the United States in the context of the civilian nuclear agreement and the Iran issue, he said India's stand would be based on an assessment of "what shall be in our national interest." India-U.S. relationship had not become hostage to the July 2005 civilian nuclear agreement because it was "not a one-shot relationship." India was now an "honoured dialogue partner" for the international community and this indicated the "winds of change" in its global standing.

On the nuclear front, he said: "We are seeking a new brave world order," which would "cease to discriminate against" India.

On how his Government had handled domestic political controversies such as Jharkhand, Volcker and the Bihar Assembly dissolution, he said: "I do not disown" some of those dicey decisions but "ultimately our Government did the right thing." As for the defreezing of Italian businessman Ottavio Quattrocchi's accounts, he repeated his Guwahati statement that the decision to freeze or defreeze was not taken "at the level of the Government," and it was for the CBI to make the call.

In a bit of sparring with his political rivals, he took on the BJP leaders who had called him names. "I have done nothing to deserve all these epithets." He would like to be judged on the basis of his performance rather than on "what Mr. Advani says."

Acknowledging that there were contradictions within the United Progressive Alliance coalition, he said it was "my privilege to reconcile them" and to "harmonise these economic and social forces."

On the possibility of a conflict between the judiciary and the legislature, he said it was "incumbent upon all constitutional functionaries" to work cohesively. And in the recent Supreme Court verdict on Bihar, there was "a difference of opinion, a difference of perceptions" even on the Bench but the Supreme Court "was entitled to respect, and we respect it."

The 90-minute media interaction saw Dr. Singh handle questions competently, with an occasional display of wit and humour.

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