Pokhran anniversary: Why May 11, 1998 is Bharat’s pivotal moment

Twenty six years ago, India under NDA Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee conducted Shakti series of nuclear tests at Pokhran on May 5 and May 11, a pivotal moment for India’s nuclear capability in the field of national security and clean energy.

After India declared itself as a nuclear weapon state by exploding a range of devices—from thermonuclear to tactical—the country has gone miles ahead in the interregnum with a complete, functioning and highly capable nuclear triad and robust second strike capability due to nuclear powered ballistic missile firing submarines.

Today, India has a 5000 km range land based Agni ballistic missile and a 3000 km range K-4 submarine based ballistic missile, which can cover India from threats posed by China, Pakistan and beyond.

While nuclear deterrence has helped India stand up to military and diplomatic coercion of global powers, the most important part of Vajpayee’s decision to test was that India for the first time named China as the key reason for Bharat going nuclear. In his letter to then US President Bill Clinton on May 13, 1998, Vajpayee stated : “ We have an overt nuclear weapon state on our borders, a state which committed armed aggression against India in 1962…..to add to the distrust that country has materially helped another neighbor of ours to become a covert nuclear weapon state.” China’s threat to India was out of closet that day as before that day the Indian government and the media did not even mention China by name. The Communist state was India’s Voldemort as Buddha smiled on that day.

Even after two decades, the threat from China and the Communist regime has not decreased and in fact multiplied as there is concern that the pro-Beijing Muizzu regime in Maldives may lease an island to the PLA to establish a base in the coming days. India has made it clear to Maldives that this is a red line and will have serious repercussions. China has increased its intermediate range ballistic missile arsenal manifolds and Pakistan is trying to develop MIRV technology citing asymmetric conventional threat faced from India. It is another matter that China is using Pakistan to target the Indian hinterland through jihad.

After the Shakti series of tests, PM Vajpayee was castigated by the then Opposition particularly the Left parties and Leftist media and the government had to fend off US pressure through pro-west Indian media to sign the CTBT. Yet, despite the world declaring India as a nuclear pariah barring France in the P-5, India under Vajpayee managed to fend off pressure and sanctions and four years later on July 28,2002 then Secretary of State Colin Powell offered the civilian nuclear deal to National Security Advisor Brajesh Mishra.

Even though India’s adversaries in the west tried to play nuclear flashpoint theory to pressurize India on Kashmir on behalf of Pakistan, Prime Minister Narendra Modi demolished that shibboleth by conducting surgical strikes and Operation Bandar in Balakot in Pakistan as a response to terror strikes with no answer from Rawalpindi GHQ. In fact, today the same Indian capability has been utilized to produce clean energy and ensure Bharat is part of the climate change response. May 11, 1998, was the day when India asserted itself globally.