Nuke test secret will perish with me: Narasimha Rao Saturday, May 8 2004 21:45 Hrs (IST)
New Delhi:
Further deepening the mystery over "US pressure" against India carrying out nuclear tests in early 1990s, the then Prime Minister P V Narasimha Rao today (May 8, 2004) said the "secret" will perish with him and he shall never violate the oath of secrecy.
In a rare media interaction, he also dismissed as "disinformation" allegations that he had "victimised" his colleagues and political rivals in the Hawala scam and said the liberalisation process was an objective situation with "its own impact and momentum".
"The secret will perish along with me. It will never come out of my mouth. Lots of books have been written - all off the mark, some a little less off and some very much off," he said when asked whether India did not carry out the nuke tests under American pressure.
The former Prime Minister was interacting with Indian Express Editor-in-Chief Shekhar Gupta on NDTV's 'Walk The Talk' programme.
"It is from me and it will not come from me. You can go on approximating. I am under an oath and an oath for me is something very sacred," Rao said.
On the US pressure, he said Washington has been saying that since Pandit Nehru's time and there was nothing new about it. "And we did not quite oblige and that's also not new."
Asked whether he played politics in Hawala and "victimised" his rivals including Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani, he said "oh no...you are making him (Advani) too big for my shoes."