Nuclear War-Monger Must Resign

CNDP Statement | November 17, 2016

The Coalition for Nuclear Disarmament and Peace (CNDP) condemns in no uncertain terms the highly irresponsible and mindless utterances of the Union Defense Minister, Mr.Manohar Parrikar, who has questioned India’s No First Use (NFU) policy regarding nuclear weapons at a book release function last week. According to news reports, Mr.Parrikar reportedly stated as follows: “Why should I bind myself? I should say I am a responsible nuclear power and I will not use it irresponsibly”. Mr.Parrikar then tried to clarify that this was his personal opinion, and that government policy had not changed.

We are at a loss to understand how, as Defense Minister of the country, Mr.Parrikar could express a personal opinion, which is wholly contrary to the declared policy of the Government of India. Moreover, Mr.Parrikar owes an explanation to the people of India and to the rest of the world about the ways, means and consequences of using nuclear weapons “responsibly”. As is evident from Mr.Parrikar’s pernicious thoughts, it appears that Mr.Parrikar and his ilk are desperate to use nuclear weapons on perceived “enemies” in the guise of fulfilling a “responsibility.” One of his colleagues in the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Dr.Subramanian Swamy, on 23 September 2016 had already fantasized the unfolding scenario as follows: “In the event of a nuclear war, Pakistani nuclear bombs can kill not more than 10 crore people. We are the country of 112 crore population. But our nuclear bombs can wipe off Pakistan altogether.”

Obsessed with the insatiable urge to wipe out 190 million Pakistanis, the war-mongers in India are prepared to “sacrifice” 100 million Indian lives to achieve that dreadful end. Thus, it is evident that the so-called “deterrence” theory, which holds that nuclear weapons are intended to deter other states from attacking with their nuclear weapons through the promise of retaliation and possibly mutually assured destruction (MAD), is a mere cover for following an aggressive nuclear war-mongering strategy. The willingness to commit genocide on an unprecedented scale is frighteningly alarming. The intention of the likes of Mr.Parrikar and Dr.Swamy is not to protect the people of India from a nuclear attack but to annihilate with nuclear weapons the people of another nation, which is perceived as the “enemy”, irrespective of the enormous costs that the people of India have to bear for undertaking such blood-thirsty adventures. The truth is nuclear weapons cannot protect anyone; they can be used only for unleashing destruction and heaping calamity as never before.

Since a nuclear war-monger poses a grave threat to the lives of the people of India, Mr.Parrikar is unfit to remain as India’s Defense Minister. Under the circumstances, the CNDP appeals to the members of the Indian Parliament to seek Mr.Parrikar’s resignation forthwith.

The very existence of nuclear weapons is a curse on humanity. According to para 8.1 of India’s Draft Nuclear Doctrine: “Global, verifiable and non-discriminatory nuclear disarmament is a national security objective. India shall continue its efforts to achieve the goal of a nuclear weapon-free world at an early date”. Unfortunately, since 1998, the Government of India has not taken a single initiative to fulfil this stated objective. If at all the Government of India has even a semblance of commitment to pursue this laudatory goal, the least it could do is to give a call for holding the Fourth UN Special Session Devoted to Disarmament at the earliest.

For CNDP

Achin Vanaik
Lalita Ramdas
Anil Chaudhary
Abey George
Kumar Sundaram

And

N D Jayaprakash