Naqvi presses N-button on ‘foreign’ leadership

The BJP attack came today in reaction to the Congress’ charge that the BJP had appropriated the credit for making India a nuclear power though it actually ‘‘belongs to the Congress party’’. BJP general secretary Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi turned around the charge, fielding a poser for the Congress.

The Congress had even pointed out that Prime Minister A.B. Vajpayee, as member of the Morarji Desai Government in 1979, had voted against resuming the nuclear programme at a political affairs committee meeting.

‘‘We do not need a certificate from the Congress, which has at last acknowledged that India has emerged as a nuclear power,’’ Naqvi said. ‘‘We went ahead with nuclear tests undeterred by international pressure, including threat of economic sanctions.’’

He called the Congress a ‘‘jasoosi’’ (detective) party for going public with highly-confidential minutes of a Cabinet committee on the issue of national security. ‘‘The Congress, by making an attempt to make political capital out of a matter of national security, has given rise to a question mark over its commitment to the nation. They (Congress) should make it clear whether they want the nuclear button to be in the hands of an Indian or a foreigner,’’ he said.