India has the capability to retaliate with 'multiple effect' if someone used a nuclear weapon against it, former principal scientific advisor Dr A P J Abdul Kalam said in Coimbatore on Thursday night.
When reporters sought his opinion whether India had got the right to use nuclear weapons as a deterrent, Kalam said India adopted 'the no first-use philosophy'.
"But, India can and has the capability to retaliate with multiple effect," he said.
Earlier, Kalam told reporters at Pollachi, about 35 km from here, that India, with a billion people, had all weapons to face any situation.
But Indians did not believe in themselves and "once you start believing in yourselves, you can face any challenge," Kalam said.
"The day you don't beleive in yourselves, you are in deep trouble," he said, adding the message about India's strength should be spread. Bureau Report