Overview
- Delivering a lecture on 13 November in New Delhi, Ahluwalia argued the nuclear pact is still underappreciated and showed Singh could “move politics” when required.
- He recounted that Singh turned a threatened Left no‑confidence move into a confidence vote and secured Samajwadi Party support after A.P.J. Abdul Kalam spoke to Mulayam Singh Yadav.
- Ahluwalia said large sections of the Congress, the Left, and the BJP opposed the deal, adding that Singh offered to resign but persuaded Sonia Gandhi to let him proceed.
- He linked the pact to subsequent U.S.–India defense and security ties and to access to foreign nuclear technology and fuel that India could not obtain as a non‑NPT signatory.
- Pointing to current policy choices, he urged bringing in foreign reactor technology, pressed for lateral entry and autonomy in government citing Nandan Nilekani’s Aadhaar example, and noted DAE veterans’ skepticism at the time.