Once a Member is elected, it is for two years.
Therefore, we would certainly like you to take note of that; that it is a very important role that India can play. We should certainly take an opportunity again to get into the Security Council because this is the place where you can influence important opinions, decisions and discussions of the world politics, and India has the respect of the world, because India has taken correct decisions on correct occasions and because India is not a military power. Nor is India an economic power in the sense it is understood, though it is not an ignorable proposition. Certainly it has made progress in both the fields. I would like this one point to be taken note of that in the foreign policy areas India’s voice is heard with respect.
I was talking about our relations with the big powers. Well, our relations with the USA are good. They are improving. Visits are taking place. Their President came here and our Prime Minister went there, and you meet of the Foreign Ministers when you go to the United Nations. It is a good thing to discuss. But I would like to utter a word of warning here. When you think about good relations with big powers, they are like machines and they have no heart. They only have national interests - not only national interests whether it is Soviet Union. U. S. A. or China - they all go by global interest. How far India has got priority in the U.S.A.’s assement? I am afraid, as far as U.S.A. is concerned, India has got a very low priority because there is no question of making any movement. We started with the mechanism of the Joint Commissions with the big powers in cultural, economic and industrial matters. I have no doubt that this is making some progress. And when it comes to the matters of importance for us, like when it comes to the nuclear technology, they do not think about that warmly but only think of blunt and cold letters. That is what President Carter of the United States of America happened to speak here and he just happened to have leaked that out, thanks to a press man. So one will have to go by what your priority is in this field and not by mere formalities of goodwill.
Now, when we come to the question of Diego Garcia, one of the worst things is happening there. If U.S.A. is a member, or is a friend of a particular country of the littoral countries, then they must come forward and say we discontinue this from today. In one of the speeches made during the debate I learnt - I think it was Shri Stephen who quoted it somewhere that Russia had made a declaration that they are prepared to discuss it with other countries. We are not against their general movement in the Ocean. Certainly every power can move about in the world. That is because it is an open road in the Indian Ocean! But they have a military base. It is not only a threat to Independent India, but I would like to tell you that the whole area, as somebody called it, is a crescent of crisis. I look at it as some sort of an arc consisting of Africa, the Gulf countries, India, Pakistan and also South Asia. It is an arc. This Diego Garcia is at the centre of that arc. So it is a threat to African countries. It is a threat to countries on both sides of Suez. It is a threat to Gulf countries. It is a threat to India which is a most important country in this part of the world. When we raised this question, the other side smiles and says that they take a formal note of it. If you want to talk about genuine non-alignment, we will have to make it as a test.
My main point is this who has got a base? Soviet. Union, has not got a base here. It is the U.S.A. which has got the base, which you will have to keep in mind and take note of it, and all your calculations about your relationship should be only on this basis. Sir, I have not spoken to criticise the government. I have not spoken to criticise A or B. I have merely spoken with a view to espouse the cause of national interest in the area of India’s foreign policy and that is what I have done.