Sounding cautious while making the usual noises about India’s “nuclear sovereignty being undermined (by forfeiting its right to conduct future nuclear tests)”, Singh said: “Our opposition is limited only to those unbalanced provisions in the deal that endanger the nuclear sovereignty of India.”

“Our testing options appear to have been eliminated and there is no legally binding agreement on the assured fuel supply,” said Rajnath. The BJP, he said, however, was all for “nuclear and political cooperation with the USA”.

In an attempt to reinforce what the BJP views as its “natural ties” with the USA, he added: “It has been proved that the concealing of facts (on the Indo-US nuclear deal) was not done by the US Government, but by the Government of India. It’s the Prime Minister who consciously misled the country.”

By agreeing to terms of the NSG supply, Rajnath, however, claimed that “India has willfully converted our unilateral moratorium on nuclear testing into a multi-lateral international commitment”.

The BJP president quoted a People’s Daily article to say that China may conduct further nuclear tests. “In such a situation, if the Government of India surrenders its right to conduct a nuclear test, it could be dangerous for the country,” he said.

Picking on China’s propensity to “create a border dispute even in undisputed areas”, and the “recent construction activity that it is undertaking in the Himalayan region”, he called the Government’s approach to China as “very slack and weak”.

Rajnath chose to hail the BJP-ruled states of Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Karnataka, besides Gujarat for “admirably combating terrorism” and unearthing the SIMI network. The rest of his speech was devoted to Amarnath, the Ram Sethu and issues like the changing of the Kendriya Vidyalaya logo, a charter that Rajnath thinks would help reposition himself as the party’s new hardliner mascot.

Reiterating his call to nationalise the (Ranga Morh-Baltal camp dirt track) stretch leading to the Amarnath shrine, he appealed to all parties to “reconsider their position on Article 370”. The BJP president also demanded a “special area in the Kashmir Valley” for the rehabilitation of the Kashmiri Pandits.

The UPA Government’s July 22 trust vote (“when lok tantra turned into note-tantra), rising prices, the agrarian crisis, and the Bihar floods also found a mention in the BJP president’s speech.