Nuclear tests still resonate in political discourse; Congress, BJP claim credit

Ajay Banerjee

New Delhi, May 18

Fifty years ago on May 18, 1974, India carried out its first nuclear test at Pokhran, Rajasthan, and oddly named it “peaceful nuclear explosion” or PNE. This path breaking event, followed by the second nuclear test 24 years later on May 11, 1998, led to development of nuclear missiles.

Scientific and strategic importance of these tests and the subsequent development of nuclear arsenal are now part of political discourse amid the ongoing Lok Sabha polls. The two tests carried out during the respective tenures of Indira Gandhi and Atal Bihari Vajpayee have divided the followers of both the Congress and BJP.

Project backed by all PMs since 1974

• Though there was gap of about 24 years between Pokhran I and II, weapon project continued and all Prime Ministers since 1974 fully supported it
• The two shafts in which the weapons were tested in 1998 were dug in the 1980s with the approval of then PM Rajiv Gandhi

The Congress, its president Mallikarajun Kharge and its media communication in-charge Jairam Ramesh, in separate posts on X on Saturday, reminded the country of the event of 1974 heaping praise on Indira Gandhi. “The work on a nuclear fission device had been authorised by PM Indira Gandhi on September 7, 1972,” Jairam said in his post.

Exactly a week ago on the 26th anniversary of the second nuclear test of May 11, 1998, PM Narendra Modi posted on X, “May 11 is very special for every Indian. The tests in 1998 showed the prowess of our scientists and the exceptional leadership of Atal ji. But the Congress discounts this accomplishment and they scare India citing other nations. Shameful.”

Political claims aside, the present-day Indian nuclear arsenal and also the triad – the ability to launch a nuclear-tipped missile from land, air and undersea — owes its parentage to these two tests.

The 1974 test was actually planed in the 1960s around the time the Green Revolution began. R Chidambaram, former Chairman, Atomic Energy Commission, wrote in his book “India Rising: Memoir of a Scientist” that how sometime in 1967, Dr Raja Ramanna called and told him to work on a nuclear weapon design. Money was allocated from a “secret fund” maintained by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).

Although there was a gap of about 24 years between Pokhran 1 and 2, the weapon project continued and all PMs since 1974 fully supported it. The two shafts in which the weapons were tested in 1998 were dug in the 1980s with the approval of then PM Rajiv Gandhi, says the book.

In the 2000s, US-based scientists doubted the yield of the 1998 tests. India’s Department of Atomic Energy gave out full details in 2009. It also described the 1974 test, saying “The PNE (was) relevant for weapon design and therefore, the success of the May 1974 test was important for us.” The yield of the May 1974 test was 12-13 kilotons and was announced by Chidambaram and Ramanna at a meeting of the International Atomic Energy in Vienna in 1975. This was also accepted internationally, said the statement in 2009.

It said, “The 15 kt fission nuclear test (of May 1998) had evolved from the ‘peaceful nuclear explosion’ device tested in 1974. It had substantial changes from the point of view of weaponisation.”

In 1974, plutonium for the device was extracted from the CIRUS (Canada-India Reactor US) research reactor, a 40-MW reactor supplied by Canada that began operating in 1960. Plutonium was transported from Mumbai to Pokhran in a convoy of military trucks. The plutonium box was camouflaged among several similar looking boxes.