India was in the dog house following the 1998 nuclear tests that triggered a tit-for-tat test by arch rival Pakistan, but New Delhi has since been improving its ties with Washington and reluctant to outrightly condemn the US over Iraq.

Legislators failed to agree on a resolution Monday to express India's stance on the US military action against Iraq, but after treading a virtual mine field hunting the right words, the parties decided a day later to drop English.

The official statement is now in Hindi and open to interpretation by parties to suit their own inclinations.

While opposition parties insisted on a "condemnation" of the US-led strikes, the government was keen to sugar-coat the statement by merely "deploring" the US action.

The operative word in the Hindi language statement -- ninda -- could be read as "condemning" or "deploring," depending on the person using it.

The national parliament was adjourned twice Tuesday as the opposition insisted on adding an adjective to "ninda" to make it "strongly condemn" or "strongly deplore."

A compromise was struck again. In exchange for dropping the adjective, the government of Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee agreed to add a line calling for an immediate end to the war and the withdrawal of coalition forces.

Press reports here had speculated that New Delhi's low-key response to the war in Iraq -- initially calling it "unjustified and unavoidable" -- was aimed at preserving the warming ties with the US.

SPACE.WIRE