• My guest today is Strobe Talbott. We’re meeting for the second time on the show but with one big difference: last time, you came to India to promote your book, which was about what you did under the previous U.S. administration, with a previous Indian government, after the nuclear tests; now we might talk about your new innings with the new U.S. administration and with, who knows, a new Indian government, handling a situation after the Indo-U.S. treaty, whether it is done by then or still on the table. There’s going to be a big change in a couple of years. The last time (on the show), you spoke about having come here 30 years ago and riding a motor-scooter here. Now you see the change?

Oh, you bet. The change you see in this country is as important for the world as any change taking place anywhere. And I say that because I’ve seen the Soviet era. The change that is happening here is of spectacular importance.

• Just the other day, three of your senior-most Senators were here and they said that so many of them in the Senate turned up their noses and voted for the deal. This was a group of intelligent, powerful and very difficult Americans who were voting for something that they fundamentally didn’t believe in. They did it because they see something special in Indo-US relations. What do you think they are seeing?

What they see, first of all, is an agreement that was brilliantly negotiated by the Indian government. There were some defects from the American side and we’ve talked about this before. As much as India deserves special treatment, there is a need to keep the global non-proliferation regime alive, creating an exception for India There will be other countries who will seek such treatment; they might not be reliable custodians of nuclear weapons. But here’s what: the deal from our side, the American side, is done. I was relieved when it went as smoothly as it has on the American side, because I want us to turn the page and get on to the next chapter. And it blows my mind when I see the kind of difficulty it has got into on the Indian side.

... contd.