Projecting nuclear India

  Through his two-part article ("Projecting nuclear India", October 8 and 9) Mr Hari Jaisingh, who was in the media party accompanying the Prime Minister during his recent visit to New York and Paris, makes an assessment of the Indo-US and Indo-Pak relations in the backdrop of this country's emergence as a potential nuclear power. An attempt was initially made by the Clinton administration to convince the unsuspecting American public that the nuclear tests had raised a great deal of tension in the region, and that India and Pakistan might be at each other's throats at any moment. But nothing of the sort has happened till today. The fact is that much of the fallout from India's tests seemed to be not in New Delhi or Islamabad but in Washington!

A country, whose most important achievement in the past 50 years is its impeccable democratic record, has overnight become a bad state in American eyes. A "civilised" state like the USA can retain nuclear arsenals, violate the sovereignty of other states, bypass the UN and bomb terrorist bases thousands of kilometre away, but India has no right to retain a nuclear deterrent or defend its territory against terrorist attacks. Height of sheer hypocrisy, indeed!

The vehemence bordering on vitriol so evident in the official US reaction to India's test series is clearly born out of a variety of frustrations; at India being too big and too populous to be pushed around; at the mistaken notion that the tests by India will have a domino effect; and last, but not the least the frustration that America's much-wanted intelligence and surveillance systems were caught unawares.

The USA feels that anything India does has to fit into American mould, that India's strategic requirements should be limited by the South Asian matrix. Washington conveniently forgets that, like China, India is also a massive country, representing one-sixth of humanity. What is missing generally in American foreign policy and specifically in its nuclear policy is a sense of context. The Clinton administration has become so exceedingly obsessed with its lone superpower role that it has lost touch with the political reality around the globe.

The honourable American Senators do not seem to realise that global nuclear policy, cobbled together and constantly repaired by the USA, is built on hypocrisy. American-aided Britain is producing nuclear weapons and acquiesced in when France followed suit. It looked conveniently the other way when Israel (still an undeclared nuclear weapon state) put together an atomic arsenal. When China exploded its own bomb, the USA quietly coopted Beijing into the nuclear club. And now, having tasted sin, the USA demands that everyone else should pledge nuclear chastity. Washington is in no position to cast a stone on New Delhi or anywhere else.

As regards Indo-Pak relations for 50 years, the conflict between the two countries has remained the pastime of politicians and strategic experts on both sides. If the current missile arms race is not brought under control, if both sides do not observe restraint on the nuclear weapons front, the next war will mean total destruction of all that the subcontinent has built in the last 50 years.

K.M. VASHISHT
Mansa

* * * *

Abusing the plaintiff: American pressure on other countries to sign the CTBT is to make them all locked in a life-and-death struggle. This means peace according to "American standards". Many people in the USA today have that assumption.

India has to carry on with its task of defending its stand on the nuclear issue. Total disarmament is the task that requires efforts on the lines of those needed to win a great war.

The BJP's stand on nuclear tests is justified by the popular choice of the masses. Thinking of peace is good as advocated by writers like Arundhati Roy. We should develop moral power and sacrificial spirit, but once a war is upon us, the task is no longer one of averting the war but of winning it. Only combined efforts at different levels can ensure peace.

Neither voice nor the pen can portray the awful horrors of a future war. There would be no illusion about the reality of the danger. Future generations will appreciate it if war is averted. It will be an achievement without precedent. Indians are known as being peace-lovers, and will continue to remain as such, but the nuclear tests are an indication that all self-proclaimed enemies will be suitably answered. America's illogical stand on pressurising India is conveyed in the words of Cicero: "When you have no basis for an argument, abuse the plaintiff."

VIVEK SINH MARGIRAN
Kurukshetra

* * * *

INDIA'S FRIENDS: It is a matter of grave concern that the successful nuclear tests by India have not been liked by the close friends of Delhi. In fact, they could not chew it as they might have thought how India, a poor country, could demonstrate technological achievement of a very high level.

S. C. TANEJA
Rohtak

* * * *

Corrupt no longer apologetic

This refers to Mr Harwant Singh’s forthright article “Cohabiting with corruption” (The Tribune, Oct 10).

Sadly but incontrovertibly, corruption has flourished in the country by leaps and bounds largely under the protective umbrella of the powers that be. The evil has now spread its tentacles incredibly wide; so much so that getting a thing done via corrupt ways is speedier and much cheaper these days than through the routine course.

The most disturbing part of the story, as Mr Singh has aptly pointed out, is that over the years the gilded evil seems to have acquired “sheen of legitimacy”. As a result, the corrupt no longer feel apologetic about their nefarious activity; in fact, the guys betray arrogance, thus adding insult to injury.

Candidly speaking, the rule in the administration is: compromise/socialise with the evil and flourishing; shun it and be damned! What a fall for India — the proverbial land of spirituality, morality, and ethics in the good old days!

TARA CHAND
Ambota (Una)

* * * *

Bad practices

It is a common practice to block roads, streets and parks on various social and religious occasions. In this way, the flow of traffic is obstructed, resulting in accidents, delays and other difficulties.

Loudspeakers at full volume are also used on roads or from buildings without caring for its nuisance value. Patients in hospitals, students, and office-going people are the worst sufferers.

It is observed that many organisations take pleasure in holding various types of religious functions in residential areas without caring for the people living in that locality.

All these things have become part of our culture. The district administrations throughout the country should be asked to take action against these bad practices.

S.R. MITTAL
Ludhiana

* * * *

Humour in verses

As mentioned in the write-up “Durgat” (“Chandigarh Calling”, October 5), Mr T.N. Raz plans to publish a Hindi edition of his poetic collection with 20 more ghazals in Ghalib’s style.

Mirza Ghalib’s style of writing verses was unique. Even his famous contemporaries like Ustad Zauq, Momin, Aazurdah, et al, could not follow it. The peerless poet asserted with just pride:

Hain aur bhee duniya mein sukhanwar bahot achchhey
Kaihtey hain ke Ghalib ka hai andaaz-e-bayaan aur.

The couplet — Paartee ko toryey phir joryey phir toryey/Rang leyhee aaey gee mauqa-prastee ek din — quoted in the write-up is not at all in Ghalib’s style. It is just in the “Baihr” (metre), “qaafiyah” (rhyme) and “radeer” (post-rhyme word) of a ghazal of Ghalib. The idiom is “rang laana” (to bloom, succeed, cause trouble, etc) and not “rang ley aana”.

Ghalib said: “Qarz kee peetey they mai aur samajhtey they ke haan/Rang laaey gee hamaaree faaqa-mastee ek din” (I used to take wine on credit and knew that one day my cheerfulness in adversity would certainly land me in trouble).

Evidently, Raz has used the words “rang ley hee aaye gee”, instead of “rang laaey gee”, to maintain the poetic measure of the hemistich. However, the verse highlights the practice of time-serving, self-seeking and opportunistic politicians, who sacrifice not only their own principles but also the ideals of their parties for personal gains.

The appellation of poet Qateel is “Shifa’i” and not “Shifal”, as mentioned.Humour is the faculty to see the funny side of a subject. “Many a serious thing is said in humour”, says a quote. Akbar Illahabadi earned great reputation as a poet of humour and satire. In his amusing verses, he not only held absurdities, rampant in political and social system and religious matters, up to scorn and derision, but also lampooned the blind followers of western culture.

BHAGWAN SINGH
Qadian