1998, Revised May 2000
Two years ago, when India conducted the tests in Pokhran, it signalled a dramatic shift in India's nuclear posture. It brought India's nuclear capability from the realm of a quiet and covert military program to a publicly known status.
The following analysis examines this transformation in the context of international developments and how they have affected India over the last three-four decades:
However, in 1998, we had also carried a story on the Nuclear Tests and we continue to keep it on our web-site for those curious about what was written then.
Our 1998 story:-
"As an Indian I am proud it was done in India and by Indians." - Tushar Gandhi
This statement by the grandson of the world's most well-known advocate of peace and non-violence sums up the generational transformation that has taken place amongst urban Indians in India.
An opinion poll published in the Times of India showed that 91 percent of urban Indians approved of the tests and 82 percent believed the country should now build nuclear arms. A New York Times headline read: "India Glows With Pride as Outrage Rises Abroad". Two days later, an Irish Times (05/13/98) headline summed up the new mood: "Tests seen as sign of might, maturity, on world stage" Other headlines on the same day: 'U.S. Intelligence Under Fire in Wake of India's Nuclear Test' (from the NY Times) and 'Embarrassed US "had no clue" about blasts' (the Sydney Morning Herald) illustrated the well concealed preparations for the tests in India.
Although India was the first country to propose a ban on nuclear testing, it has been unwilling to sign global treaties that were discriminatory because they allowed a few countries to hold nuclear arms indefinitely.
"Far from leading to regional tension, the test will create a stabilizing atmosphere, so important for peace not only in the region but also for the whole continent of Asia," argued M.L. Sondhi, chairman of the Center for Conflict Power Resolution at Jawarharlal University in New Delhi. "Because, if India is better prepared militarily there is lesser prospect of war breaking out in this part of the world."
In an interview with Rakesh Sharma of Deccan Herald News Service, former prime minister I K Gujral elaborated on India's security concerns. He pointed to the fact that Indian coastal borders were very extensive, nearly 7,00 miles, and were situated in an area that was heavily nuclearized. The Indian Ocean is home to the US military base in Diego Garcia which has been nuclearized by the US government. And there is constant movement of nuclear weapon carrying warships, submarines and aircraft carriers in the Indian Ocean, the Arabian Sea and the Persian Gulf. US, NATO and Australian military manouvers have greatly increased in this region. Although at present this military might is targeted at Iraq, Indian Defence Experts are naturally concerned about the long-term dangers to India from such high intensity military activity so close to the nation's borders.
Other developing nations are not unsympathetic to such concerns for even as the world's nuclear and military powers issued vitriolic statements condemning India, the G-15 summit of developing nations in Cairo did not. A random opinion poll conducted in the city brought forward such comments as "At last, a friend of the Arabs is a nuclear power", and "It's good, Egypt can now turn to India for support". There was also support from Sri Lanka and Russia. Recently, the 113 member Non-Aligned Movement issued a declaration, which described as "highly discriminatory" the stand of the nuclear weapon states to monopolise the right to own atomic weapons. (There was no criticism of India in the declaration.) (click for more details)
It should be noted that unlike the US, India has pledged no first use of nuclear weapons. In Kozhikode, India's Vice-president Krishan Kant asserted that India would stick to its policy of not using nuclear weapons first in any armed conflicts. He added that nuclear power was acquired not with any aggressive intentions, and pointed out that the country has always stressed on the peaceful use of nuclear power. The Vice-President made these observations diverting from his prepared speech at a seminar while reacting to a comment made by eminent writer U R Ananthamurthy, who presided over the meet, that the way US President Bill Clinton was ordering a country like India about its nuclear programmes made him feel it was the right thing to have conducted the nuclear tests.
Official statements from the current government have recently emphasized that the tests were not directed at any country and were meant to provide a ``credible option'' to counter the geostrategic threats in the region. The foriegn office also released statements that sought to explain the Indian point of view to China and to plead for friendly cooperation. (click for more details)
Commenting on the hypocrisy of the United States and other vested interests, Dr. Rashmi Mayur, Director, International Institute for Sustainable Future, Mumbai, in a statement, said: "The world today has enough nuclear weapons to exterminate every one of the 5.9 billion human beings five times over." and pointed out that the US had the largest arsenal of nuclear weapons numbering about 16,750. She also noted that sanctions may be a blessing in disguise since foriegn aid had not benefited the common people of India. (click for more details)
Many of India's leading scientists made similiar points about how sanctions might spur greater self-reliance.Eminent nuclear physicist and former Union Minister, Dr. Raja Ramanna, while inaugurating the golden jubilee celebrations of the Department of Management Studies at the Indian Institute of Science noted that despite the political consequences and economic sanctions from the U.S, Japan and other countries, people felt more comfortable now as the country had demonstrated its capability to defend itself. (click for more details)
India's former Defence Minister Mr Mulayam Singh Yadav and India's left parties also issued strong statements suggesting that the country would not be intimidated by sanctions. (click for more details)
The Calcutta edition of the Statesman reported that there were a number of demonstrations in the city against the sanctions imposed by USA and observed that activists of the Socialist Unity Centre of India (SUCI) burnt effigies of US President Bill Clinton. Demonstrations also took place at the US embassy in New Delhi and at the White House in Washington D.C. in the US.
While the international media in the world's most militarized nations has been extremely hostile to the Indian point of view - the Indian media has been mostly supportive of India's actions. Indian columnist Chidanand Rajghatta has described the theories and stories in the US media as ranging from the wild to the improbable to the fantastic. He has described US reporting as shallow at the best of times, but more often grossly distorted.
"ABC's World News, led the way with a fantastic lead in to the test story, postulating that nuclear armed Indian submarines could potentially bomb Washington DC and New York. Other news channels and radio talk shows rabbited on endlessly about a possible nuclear conflagration in the region because of India's tests and what they said was Pakistan's imminent response." wrote Chidanand Rajghatta.
"Not one media outlet spoke of the US's 1,000 plus tests or the fact that the Republican dominated US Senate has rejected the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty and refused to ratify it. For that matter, there was not a whisper about the latest THAAD missile test conducted by the US, a few hours after India's nuclear test. The $ 15 billion project, one of Washington's most expensive and seen by many as a waste of money, saw the fifth consecutive test end in failure." he added.
On Internet discussion boards however, the picture was quite different. Indians and international well-wishers have posted their views on various Internet bulletin board in large numbers. On the BBC web-site, as many as 86% percent of site visitors endorsed the Indian action and wrote passionately about the hypocrisy of the US and it's allies in defending a one-sided and highly discriminatory nuclear policy. While some comments were indeed jingoistic - and many focused on India's difficulties with Pakistan or felt discriminated with respect to neighbouring China - almost all stressed the defensive nature of India's actions. Many hoped it would create a new momentum towards disarmament and rejected the sanctions. Many took pride in the scientific capabilities that underlined the tests and hoped it could lead to greater self-reliance in the future. (click for more details)
Perhaps the most telling example of support for the tests comes from those that made the biggest sacrifices: the people of the Pokhran region. According to a Times of India report, the army personnel had taken precautions and apart from evacuating the villagers from Khetolai, they also evacuated the villagers of Dholiya, Loharki, Latmi and Bhadriyo. Some of the villagers, who were similarly evacuated in 1974, took no time to realise that another nuclear test was due in the next few hours. The armymen, who had gone to evacuate the villages, were surprised to hear from some of the elderly people of the villages that they had anticipated a nuclear test. Some of them even wished the army officers best of luck.! And after the official announcement came on Doordarshan that India had successfully undertaken the nuclear tests, the people of Pokhran started dancing with joy in the main bazaar. The people of Pokhran had made it clear that national security was not a concern exclusively of the educated and urban pop ulation.
Even though the Western media has been particularly harsh in condemning India, it has been cynically complicit in ignoring Israel's nuclear arsenal. Israel - a pariah nation in the developing world - justifiably hated in West Asia for violating the rights of the Palestinians and it's Arab neighbors - has got away completely - and continues to be the largest recipient of US aid in the world in spite of it's well known but clandestine nuclear program. (click for more details)
And finally, perhaps the most ringing endorsement comes from the "Al Ahram" in Cairo. In a piece titled "Revolution against the World" Abdel Rehman writes "we can consider the recent nuclear explosions as some sort of social revolution against the world economic order". That this sentiment comes from a nation that was once a pioneer in the non-aligned movement makes it of particular interest to those who wish to see the non-aligned movement reassert itself in the future. (click for the whole article)
(Click for other perspectives and
commentaries on the Nuclear Issue)
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