“It is a fortunate fact that we can secure peace only by preparing for war.” John F. Kennedy
It seems unfair on the part of a nation that has won independence through non violence and in which Mahatma Gandhi was born to produce nuclear weapons. Viewed from a different angle, there is a distinct threat to free India and its fragile frontiers in the contemporary world. Hence there is an ardent need for India to keep itself armed and safeguard its hard-won freedom.
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To retain the happiness of being independent for ever after, India has got to take up arms against the sea of troubles emanating from the difference of opinions with the neighbouring countries. It was, therefore, inevitable for India to go nuclear.
India’s decision to go nuclear does not rest on immediate security threats from its neighbouring countries nor is it based on the idea of disturbing the tranquility of any part of the subcontinent. It arises from the structural aspects of the current international system.
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Ever since its inception, Pakistan has had an alliance with USA and China. India too has a strategic partnership with the Soviet Union, but the collapse of the Soviet Union left India with no such a partner in the changed world. That the testing of nuclear weapons was the cause of the economic sanctions from countries tike USA, Japan etc. against India is negligible when compared with security of nearly a billion people.
The late noon hours of May 11, 1998 witnessed a great vicissitude in India’s stand in nuclear strength. India became self-reliant when five explosions within a span of 48 hours of Pokhran in Rajasthan and made the world sit up and take stock of India’s progress in the nuclear field.
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Of the five nuclear tests, three were conducted on May 11, 1998 and the remaining two on May 13. These five tests caused the least harm to the surrounding villages. Also there was neither radioactivity nor any dangerous radiation pervading towards the blue. Apart from these, the yield was greater ranging from 12 Kiloton to 0.06 Kiloton; the fissile material used in the five tests was completely indigenous and was produced by the Department of Atomic Energy.