Speaking at a seminar on `What Should be India's Economic Response to Sanctions' organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER) here on Friday, the Arthur Lehman professor of economics and professor of political science, Columbia University, said the country still did not have sufficient economic powers to afford to take it easy in a "big boy's game".

The US on the other hand was a superpower and had certain geo-political responsibilities, he added. Bhagwati called for a cogent approach to enhance foreign investment. Even if investment comes in the consumer goods sector it should be encouraged in order to integrate the economy with the global economy. He felt that the country should send positive signals to the US investors to take afresh look at other sectors especially infrastructure.

Bhagwati observed that the current government needed to clearly define the notion of Hinduism in order to get the support of some of the eminent economists and other intellectuals to offer guidance with regard to framing of policies. He felt that intellectuals were also shying away because of the fundamentalist nature of the BJP government.

According to Bhagwati, a syncratic approach was required to do away with the notion of BJP as a Hindu nationalist party. He said Moody's rating of India was also reflective of the prevailing political instability in the country.

Commenting on the US perception of India, Bhagwati said a substantial part of the US business community was pro-India and one must capitalise on the situation. "But fundamentalism in this respect will hurt us," Bhagwati said.

The current ruling party must address US investors and policymakers regarding its moderate image otherwise, the fallout may not be much in favour of thecountry.

Bhagwati said a proper image-building exercise was required in order to restore confidence in the country. In this regard he felt that Tata-Singapore project should go through smoothly and the opposing party should be bought out. In Bhagwati's opinion the way out was to speed up the process of economic reforms. He said the current finance minister should stand on the shoulders of Manmohan Singh and continue with the process of reforms.Earlier, Jaswant Singh, deputy chairman, Planning Commission, said the country's nuclear tests could not be looked at in the same light as the global economy especially from a position of weakness, be it economic, security, political or social. By conducting the test the country had attained strategic autonomy, which should be translated into economic strength, Singh added.