Congress leader: “But the 123 agreement had become necessary to solve the bijli crisis.”

Future prime minister: “Where has that promise been fulfilled? A 2006 report of the Planning Commission had rightly predicted that, even with a 20-fold increase in nuclear power by 2030, its contribution to India’s energy needs would not exceed six per cent. I am told that Sonia Gandhi had then called the nuclear deal’s opponents ‘enemies of India’s development’. I am proud to say that India’s GDP has been growing at an average rate of 10 per cent for the past twenty years, not because of the 123 agreement but in spite of it.”

Congress leader: “But why didn’t you even not try to explain to the US authorities the circumstances that, according to you, necessitated Pokharan III?”

Future prime minister: “India is a self-respecting and sovereign nation. We don’t go around pleading before others why they should not act against us in reaction to something that we have done purely for self-defence. Remember that Indira Gandhi showed courage even when India was a much weaker nation economically. Similarly, Atal Bihari Vajpayee showed courage in 1998, even though India was not economically as strong as it is today. On both occasions, India withstood sanctions and emerged stronger. Today, in 2027, in the 80th year of India’s independence, India has indeed become a global power, one of principal poles in a multi-polar world. Nobody can harm us, threaten us or treat us as a junior partner. We neither accept, nor will do anything to perpetuate, a discriminatory global order. The 2008 agreement was between unequals. That bad deal has now been terminated by Washington’s own insolent action. Good riddance.”