Crediting the nation’s scientific community for the success of the 1998 Pokhran nuclear tests, President Ram Nath Kovind and Prime Minster Narendra Modi on Friday affirmed that the tests demonstrated the country’s scientific capacity and political will and had a far-reaching impact on how the world came to see India.
The President and the Prime Minister also praised Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who was the then Prime Minister, for his “courage” to go ahead with the tests.
Modi praised scientists and the leadership of Vajpayee as India observed the 20th anniversary of the Pokhran - II nuclear tests on Friday. India had carried out five underground nuclear tests in Pokhran in the Thar desert in Rajasthan on May 11 and 13, 1998. "We also remember with great pride, the skills of our scientists as well as the courage of our political leadership for the historic tests in May 1998," the Prime Minister's Office tweeted the PM as saying.
Kovind recalled the contribution of his predecessor APJ Abdul Kalam, who had led the scientific team that made preparations for the tests.
"In 1998, the government of the day took the bold decision to go ahead with the tests - and reposition India on the global stage. The Pokhran tests of May 1998 were a demonstration of both scientific capacity and political will," the President said.
The nuclear programme of the country was "built brick by brick" in a period of technology denial, Kovind said in his address after presenting awards to innovators on the occasion of 20th National Technology Day, marking the anniversary of the 1998 tests. He was referring to the sanctions imposed against India after the 1974 nuclear test that was conducted when Indira Gandhi was the prime minister. The sanctions, led by the US, had deprived India of critical nuclear and space technology.
"Those tests had a far-reaching impact on how the world came to see India - and on our foreign policy, our strategic relations and eventually our international technological collaborations," he said.
After the 1998 tests, the US and its allies had again imposed sanctions against India but a decade later, the Indo-US civil nuclear cooperation deal was signed. India had carried out five underground nuclear tests in Pokhran in the Thar desert in Rajasthan on May 11 and 13, 1998 Post Independence, Kovind said India began to climb the value chain in technology production in the areas of space and atomic energy and today, it has expanded to best-in- class capacities in communication technology, IT, pharmaceutical and biotechnology.