National Technology Day: PM remembers Pokhran test, hails Vajpayee’s leadership

The underground tests marked the country’s arrival on the world’s nuclear stage and set the scene for some impressive developments in its strategic programme.

India is observing the National Technology Day on Monday. And Prime Minister Narendra Modi saluted all those who are leveraging technology to bring a positive difference in the lives of others.

The then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee at the underground nuclear explosion test sites at Pokhran in Rajasthan.(HT File Photo)

“On National Technology Day, our nation salutes all those who are leveraging technology to bring a positive difference in the lives of others. We remember the exceptional achievement of our scientists on this day in 1998. It was a landmark moment in India’s history,” PM Modi said on Twitter referring to India’s nuclear test in Rajasthan’s Pokhran.

 

“The tests in Pokhran in 1998 also showed the difference a strong political leadership can make,” he said in another tweet.

 

The day has a historical perspective as it was on May 11, 1998, that India achieved a major technological breakthrough by successfully carrying out nuclear tests at Pokhran when Atal Bihari Vajpayee was the Prime Minister.

The underground tests marked the country’s arrival on the world’s nuclear stage and set the scene for some impressive developments in its strategic programme.

The first three detonations took place simultaneously at 3.45pm on May 11. These included a 45 kT thermonuclear device, a 15kt fission device and a 0.2 kt sub-kiloton (which is less than a kiloton) device. The two nuclear devices detonated simultaneously on May 13 were also in the sub-kiloton range, 0.5 kT and 0.3 kT.

The test happened months after then foreign secretary K Raghunath told his US counterpart that India did not have any intention of testing a nuclear device.

The test opened floodgates of trouble for India: Sanctions, economic and military, and interactional isolation.

What followed were discussions between Strobe Talbot, then US secretary of state, and then foreign minister Jaswant Singh - they were held in seven countries, 10 cities, and included 14 rounds of talks.

For Americans and the west, India was gatecrashing the nuclear club. With Pakistan seeking nuclear parity, the Americans feared South Asia would become a nuclear flashpoint. A great deal of the Talbot-Singh conversation covered this ground.

The immediate challenge was to mitigate international opposition and eventually bridge the trust gap with the US.

But over the years, India successfully managed everything and its nuclear programme matured significantly.