India this week looked set to anoint as its next president the man responsible for carrying out the country’s controversial nuclear tests four years ago — a Muslim scientist with no political experience.
Dr Abdul Kalam (70) received a rapturous reception in Delhi on Monday when he met the country’s Hindu nationalist Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
The appointment of the Indian president — a high-profile but largely symbolic post — is effectively in the gift of the ruling party. Candidates can be nominated by other parties, but apart from a Communist Party nominee who has no chance of selection, Kalam is the only candidate.
Kalam filed his nomination papers on Wednesday. Although an electoral college has to make the final decision, the lack of other serious contenders means that his selection is effectively a done deal.
Kalam’s unlikely last-minute candidature for the highest office in the world’s largest democracy follows several weeks of political intrigue. The final decision of the ruling pro-Hindu Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to pick Kalam appears to be an inspired choice.
His real fame began in May 1998 when he oversaw five nuclear tests in India’s Pokhran desert. Most Indians greeted the tests with patriotic rejoicing and Kalam earned himself the tabloid soubriquet ”Missile Man”.
By fielding a Muslim, the BJP has also wrong-footed its opponents. The opposition Congress Party has traditionally won the votes of India’s 150-million Muslims.
After wobbling for several days, the Congress Party leader Sonia Gandhi reluctantly endorsed Kalam.
Last weekend India’s Communists put up a last-minute candidate of their own — Dr Lakshmi Seghal, an 87-year-old freedom fighter from the days before Indian independence, and the first woman to contest the post.
Seghal is to begin her campaign by touring a relief camp for Muslims in Gujarat — but with the main parties’ minds made up, she has no chance of being chosen.
Many people have questioned the wisdom of giving such a sensitive job to a political neophyte. Most of Kalam’s predecessors have been seasoned parliamentarians.
India’s current president, KR Narayanan, was not offered a second term in office by the BJP after he hinted that he was deeply unhappy with the Gujarat carnage.
Kalam developed India’s nuclear-capable Agni and Prithvi missiles in the 1980s and 1990s. He went on to become Vajpayee’s principal scientific officer. There can be little doubt that in India’s recent nuclear stand-off with Pakistan, Kalam’s missiles have been pointing directly at Islamabad.
On Wednesday diplomats and analysts said the two arch-enemies, who seem to have just avoided a new war, have no choice but to work toward peace as their nuclear arsenals could have apocalyptic consequences.
Pakistan’s head of state, General Pervez Musharraf, and Kalam have both in recent days cited nuclear deterrence as the key reason why the South Asian powers have not headed into outright combat. ”War didn’t happen and that’s in large part because the two countries are now nuclear powers,” said Dileep Padgaonkar, the editor-in-chief of The Times of India.
Added a Western diplomat in New Delhi: ”Since India and Pakistan became nuclear states, they have been condemned to make peace.”
According to Western experts, India holds between 50 and 150 nuclear devices, while Pakistan has between 25 and 50.
The spectre of a nuclear war that could kill millions has struck fear across the world, with an international community rarely interested in South Asia suddenly sending a stream of envoys to New Delhi and Islamabad.
The pressure, particularly from the United States, appears to have paid off. India and Pakistan have over the past weeks taken steps to end their stand-off, during which a million troops were sent to their common borders.
Pakistan, which in the heat of the crisis in late May tested three nuclear-capable missiles, says war was avoided thanks to the dissuasive power of its nuclear arsenal.
India, likewise, sees its tough military posturing as a key to forcing Pakistan to agree to its demands.