``They (the nuclear tests) were such fantastical foolishness. But BJP was committed to doing it. And the sort of logic, that the US has it so why shouldn't we, is the logic of the playground,'' Rushdie said in an interview to Ananda Bazar Patrika in London, celebrating the end of his 10-year-long ordeal following the Iranian government's decision to distance itself from a 2.5 million dollar reward on his head.

In a wide-ranging interview, claimed to be the first given to any newspaper after the Iranian decision, Rushdie spoke about his ``thoroughly damaged relationship'' with India. Asked to comment on the present political climate particularly in the wake of the nuclear tests, he said that he used to be ``very passionate'' about the Indian political movement.

``Now I see thingsdispassionately. I do not even accept invitations to comment on India''.