• My guest this week is Brajesh Mishra, former National Security Advisor, former principal secretary to the prime minister, and the chief architect of India’s new strategic positioning in the post-Cold War world. He was also initiator of India’s new positioning with respect to the U.S., of which the 123 deal looks like the logical next step. When you made a departure of sorts from India’s Cold War diplomacy, it was a breakthrough in India’s way of understanding its position in the world. You should be happy your successors have carried on.

Yes, of course. The NDA government, with which I was associated for six years, had an agenda. In that scheme, the U.S. had a pre-eminent place and it could lead to a strategic partnership.

• Is that why it’s called the next step in strategic partnership?

We made a gradual move forward. After all, in both, the U.S. and India, there are reservations about each other. We live in democracies so that is natural. So we wanted to move step by step. That’s why it is called the next step. My idea, when this was announced in July 2005, was to safeguard our strategic programme while pushing for good relations with the U.S. and getting the sanctions on high technology and goods removed.

• The 123 deal was announced in July 2005, the major deal, the joint agreement. On July 18, 2005.

There was reference to India working with the U.S. in Geneva. In March last year, when U.S. President George W. Bush was here, he came to an agreement about separating India’s civil nuclear facilities from military ones. When they announced this, my apprehensions grew. The government has agreed to put 14 of our reactors under safeguards. Now where’s the fissile material.

... contd.