‘India will do what suits its interests’: Rajnath Singh on countries going on nuclear test spree

As US President Donald Trump has triggered a nuclear race again, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh has said that India’s decisions will not be guided by others.

India will do what it is in its interests, Rajnath told Network 18 Editor-in-Chief Rahul Joshi in an exclusive interview.

Speaking about Trump, Rajnath said that he has made many statements, but he has also been holdings talks, which means that the relationship is okay.

On the issue of nuclear power, Rajnath said the construction of nuclear submarines has picked up pace lately.

“There has been a delay in the building of a nuclear submarine, but it has now picked up pace,” said Rajnath.

India has conducted two nuclear rounds of nuclear tests in 1974 (Smiling Buddha) and 1998 (Shakti). The second round of tests were conducted under extreme secrecy and took the international community, including the United States, by surprise when then-Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee announced those tests.

India has formally committed to a no-first use policy for nuclear weapons, meaning it would only respond with nuclear weapons and not start a conflict.

Rajnath’s comment about nuclear power came days after Trump ordered the resumption of nuclear tests. He has claimed that China, Russia, North Korea, and Pakistan have been testing nuclear weapons secretively. And Russia has also suggested it could formally resume testing after Trump’s announcement.

“Russia’s testing. And China’s testing. But they don’t talk about it. You know, we’re an open society. We’re different. We talk about it. We have to talk about it because otherwise you people are gonna report. They don’t have reporters that gonna be writing about it. We do. No, we’re gonna test because they test and others test. And certainly North Korea’s been testing. Pakistan’s been testing,” Trump told CBS News last week.

But there is no independent confirmation of such claims. As per available information, Russia has not conducted a test since the last days of the Soviet era. And North Korea is the only country that has conducted tests lately.