As I said, I am not trying to reply in a controversial way. The hon. Member has made certain points and I thought that I must make my own points. Nothing more than that. We can still differ. I think we are in this hon. House because we differ.
I have no capacity to convince. I am not trying to convince anybody. I am trying to put my point of view. (Interruptions).
There were other points made. Another good speech that I heard yesterday was that of Mr. Nath Pai. He made a mention about nuclear force. He used a very picturesque phrase, nuclear Brahmacharya. I do not want to go into the meaning of Brahmacharya and other things. I would generally mention that aspect. As far as China is concerned, I am coming to the immediate task of this country, the immediate threat the country has to face. What type of weapons we should have naturally depends ultimately on what is our assessment of the threat the country is going to face. Ultimately what you propose to do must have some relation to the troubles or threats you have to face in days to come. I cannot say that there is no Chinese nuclear threat in a long range. It is there. But this question of nuclear threat has country, some relationship with the world peace problem as a whole. It has alto that angle; that dimension has to be taken note of.
.... I have no doubt in my mind that the immediate and urgent threat to this country from the Chinese side is by the conventional weapons. That is the immediate threat. Whatever resources We have must be used and utilised wisely. When I have an urgent and immediate threat from conventional weapons, how can I come to this hon. House and say, “Well, spend your money in other fields. “. (Interruptions).
This is an important branch of science and we should see whether we are making efforts to build up the technical competence in this field. I must say that this country is very well aware of that. The Atomic Energy Commission and other allied organisations ate doing necessary researches in this field to build a technical competence in that branch of science.
Naturally it has to be used for peaceful purpose So there is no Brahmacharya as far as science is concerned. As fir as the technical competence is concerned, as far as the knowledge in that field is concerned, it is being built, up. I can humbly state that I have no doubt in my mind that the Government’s policy about nuclear Weapons is a wise policy, a correct policy, a policy which we should honestly pursue.
(Interruptions).
What is the present position that we are facing in this country? We had this conflict with Pakistan. Then, there was the Tashkent Declaration or the Tashkent agreement. There are certainly sortie conditions after the Tashkent Declaration. The Chinese threat also countinues and continues in a rather more menacing way.
What is our assessment about Tashkent ? We Must look to some conditions before Tashkent. What had happened was that the relationship of Pakistan and India had become so tense that it had reached a stage when the Armed Forces of both the countries were fighting with each other. It had reached a point of no return in the relationship between both countries. Tashkent has given an opportunity to both the countries...
