If the BJP seeks to embarrass the government in the Parliament on Monday, Singh and the External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee have the option of revealing the truth on BJP’s negotiating record with the US.

After all, it is well known that the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government had offered to sign the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty in return for civilian nuclear energy cooperation. In an account of his talks with the Vajpayee government, President Bill Clinton’s Deputy Secretary of State Strobe Talbott says he angrily dismissed the Indian offer.

Having won where Vajpayee lost, Singh is unlikely to suffer BJP’s criticism in the Parliament on Monday. The Communist record is worse.

The CPI(M) had supported the Chinese nuclear programme and opposed the Indian tests. Those within the Government, who have sought to wreck India’s historic nuclear achievement by playing fast and loose with the political authority of the Prime Minister and the Cabinet, might find the going rather tough this time around. For the political stakes in India’s nuclear liberation have become so very high today.