Modi: No first use of nuclear weapons will remain

Cohete Rojo · Apr 16, 2014

Narendra Modi has expressed a counter against his party's willingness to take a first-use-nuclear option. The US media seems to be downplaying the rhetoric of the BJP.

(Reuters) - Prime ministerial frontrunner Narendra Modi said he was committed to a policy of no first use of nuclear weapons, seeking to assuage concern after his Hindu nationalist BJP party vowed to revise the nuclear doctrine if elected to power.

India declared itself a nuclear weapons state after carrying out tests in the summer of 1998, which were followed by tests by Pakistan. Since then both have been developing nuclear weapons and testing longer range missiles.

"It is necessary to be powerful - not to suppress anyone, but for our own protection," Modi said in an interview with the ANI television service.

But he said he would pursue a policy of continuity based on the approach of former Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) prime minister Atal Behari Vajpayee who declared a policy of no first use of nuclear weapons after ordering the tests.

"No first use was a great initiative of Atal Bihari Vajpayee - there is no compromise on that. We are very clear. No first use is a reflection of our cultural inheritance," Modi told ANI.

His comments came a week after the BJP unveiled its manifesto, pledging to review the nuclear doctrine, whose two main pillars were a no first-use commitment and building a credible but minimum nuclear arsenal.

http://in.reuters.com/article/2014/04/16/india-election-nuclear-weapon-idINKBN0D20NA20140416
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Here is an earlier article to help y'all catch-up if you've missed everything.

The nationalist Hindu party likely to come to power in India wants to reconsider the nation’s nuclear doctrine. What might that mean? We don’t know, but it’s an interesting question.

Much of the manifesto (PDF) released this week by the Bharatiya Janata Party, or BJP, amounts to inside baseball for those living elsewhere. Page 39, however, offers a section of broader significance:

“BJP believes that the strategic gains acquired by India during the Atal Bihari Vajpayee regime on the nuclear programme have been frittered away by the Congress1. Our emphasis was, and remains on, beginning of a new thrust on framing policies that would serve India’s national interest in the 21st century. We will follow a two-pronged independent nuclear programme, unencumbered by foreign pressure and influence, for civilian and military purposes, especially as nuclear power is a major contributor to India’s energy sector.” As part of that process, the BJP said, it intends to “study in detail India’s nuclear doctrine, and revise and update it, to make it relevant to challenges of current times.”

...

Reuters has offered some helpful context about the BJP manifesto, reporting that “sources involved in drafting the document said the ‘no-first-use’ policy introduced after India conducted a series of nuclear tests in 1998 would be reconsidered.” The same article said two aides to BJP leader Narendra Modi “told Reuters in the run-up to the vote that if he becomes prime minister, India would get tougher in territorial disputes with China and more robust with Pakistan over attacks by Islamist militants based there.”3

http://www.businessweek.com/article...lections-redefine-its-nuclear-weapons-program
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rocketsjudoka · Apr 16, 2014

Interesting since Pakistan doesn't have a "no first strike" policy. The PRC does have no first strike policy. .

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Modi: No first use of nuclear weapons will remain

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