New Delhi, December 16
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today rejected Opposition misgivings about uncertainty in the country’s nuclear policy and emphasised that it was based on “continuity and consensus.”

“India is a nuclear power and a responsible one at that,” he observed and said “the country’s defence and strategic affairs have to be decided on the basis of continuity and national consensus. These are issues best kept above partisan politics,” Dr Manmohan Singh told the Rajya Sabha today.

Maintaining that there “is no uncertainty” about India’s nuclear policy, the Prime Minister said he had seen newspaper reports about External Affairs Minister K. Natwar Singh’s remarks on nuclear weaponisation and related issues.

In Dr Manmohan Singh’s assessment, the remarks of Mr Natwar Singh appear to be in response to questions from journalists and that these were not a statement on India’s foreign policy. Dr Manmohan Singh was responding to Leader of the Opposition Jaswant Singh, who expressed concern over the remarks of the External Affairs Minister in Seoul that the previous NDA government was responsible for the Indo-Pak nuclear stand-off belittling the country’s achievement.

Raising the issue during zero hour, Mr Jaswant Singh said he was concerned about Mr Natwar Singh’s statement questioning the established policy of the Union Government, thereby “falsifying the achievements of the country”.

He took strong exception to taking domestic policies to foreign shores and laying the blame for the Indo-Pak stand-off on the previous BJP-led NDA government.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of External Affairs today rubbished news reports about External Affairs Minister K. Natwar Singh making certain controversial remarks regarding India crossing the nuclear threshold and said these reports were based on “misquotation and distortion of facts”.

In response to a question, MEA spokesperson Navtej Sarna said: “As far as the External Affairs Minister’s remarks are concerned, he acknowledged that the decision to cross the nuclear threshold was taken by the previous government in 1998.

He was merely stating a fact, not expressing any disagreement or agreement with that decision.”