The Hindu : Front Page : Committed to nuclear disarmament: Sonia

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Tuesday, Jan 30, 2007
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Committed to nuclear disarmament: Sonia

K.V. Prasad

"Evolve satyagraha to suit current-day needs"

— Photo: Sandeep Saxena

COALITION OF CONSCIENCE: Congress president Sonia Gandhi with Nobel laureates Kenneth Kaunda of Zambia (left) and Lech Walesa of Poland, and Mahatma Gandhi's granddaughter Ela Gandhi at a conference to mark the Satyagraha centenary in New Delhi on Mo nday.

NEW DELHI: Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Monday justified India's possession of nuclear weapons on the ground of strategic compulsions. It had them on account of the failure to persuade the world to abolish such weapons.

"The world's nuclear weapon states have more than adequate atomic arsenal to destroy humanity many times over. And it is not just nuclear weapons. We also confront the spectre of chemical and biological weapons. Yes, India has nuclear weapons. This became a strategic compulsion for us, born out of the failure to persuade the world to abolish nuclear weapons," Ms. Gandhi said in her inaugural address at an international conference here on "Peace, Non-violence and Empowerment, Gandhian Philosophy in the 21st Century."

Rajiv's plan

Injecting a personal note, she said that in 1988 her husband Rajiv Gandhi presented to the United Nations a blueprint for a comprehensive, universal nuclear disarmament and people like Henry Kissinger and George Shultz, who held different views then, a few days ago drew attention to Rajiv's impassioned plea and called for urgent action.

This drew instant all-round applause from the assembly. She asserted that India remained committed to a comprehensive, universal nuclear disarmament, which it intended to carry forward.

Delegates from nearly 90 countries are taking part in the two-day conference at the Vigyan Bhavan, organised by the All-India Congress Committee to celebrate the centenary of the Satyagraha.

In her brief observation on the thematic sessions, she suggested that in the era of globalisation, sustainable economic growth had to be all-inclusive like Gandhiji's sarvodaya or "the rise of all," development without threatening ecological security and planetary survival.

Relevance of philosophy

Underlining the relevance of Gandhian philosophy in the contemporary world, she said the challenge lay in finding a creative inspiration and evolving a Satyagraha appropriate to the present day needs.

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