Taking a swipe at the United States for not doing enough to check Pakistan’s export of terror, Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee today said this would have a direct bearing on India’s future strategy. Calling Washington’s inability to rein in Pakistan as ‘‘its weakness,’’ Vajpayee informed Lok Sabha, while replying to the debate on the motion of thanks to the President’s address, that this would impact Indian planning. ‘‘We will keep this in mind while evolving a future strategy.’’ He described India as a responsible nuclear-weapon power and made it clear that the same could not be said of ‘‘our neighbour.’’ India, he said, had made all efforts to avert war. ‘‘The two countries had come close to a war after the December 13 attack on Parliament. It was because of India’s diplomatic efforts, international pressure on Pakistan and its subsequent assurances which prevented a war at that time.’’ ‘‘If war had taken place, it would have been a fight to the finish. But we achieved our objectives without resorting to a war. We were alert all the time,’’ the PM said. Responding to Opposition queries on the Government stand on Iraq, Vajpayee said there was a need for a middle path as it was a highly sensitive issue and would challenge India’s diplomatic skills. The government, he promised, would make arrangements to bring home 40 lakh Indians from the Gulf region in case of war. He rejected Leader of Opposition Sonia Gandhi’s charge that the government was using terrorism as a pretext to polarise society. ‘‘It’s very unfortunate. There are a hundred ways of playing politics but to treat the issue of terrorism in this manner is wrong. Such kind of talk will send wrong signals to the world.’’ On the issue of unemployment, Vajpayee said doubts had been raised about the creation of over 70 lakh jobs. ‘‘Employment does not mean government jobs and I am ready to accept any challenge on this,’’ he said, reeling off figures. In a rare and firm intervention, Sonia Gandhi said that the Opposition had questioned the NDA government’s manifesto promise about providing one crore jobs every year. ‘‘By now you should have given 3.5 crore jobs,’’ she said. ‘‘We did not mean that we will call one crore people and give them jobs. We created jobs and provided opportunities,’’ Vajpayee replied in a lighter vein. When she tried to remind him again of the manifesto promise, he turned to statistics to drive home his point: ‘‘In the year 2002-03, we created 84 lakh jobs, 79 lakh last year and 73 lakh the year before that.’’ Vajpayee said he would like to consult political leaders on the issue of evolving a comprehensive policy on food security and urged members to ensure the success of Antodaya Yojana in their constituencies. He regretted that two years of severe drought and losses in agricultural sector had affected the country’s growth rate. On the positive side, he noted that the atmosphere was conducive to foreign investments and Indo-Pak tensions did not have an adverse affect on them. India’s foreign exchange reserves had crossed the $ 75 billion mark and the government had even started clearing some of its international debts ahead of time.
