Trilok Singh
On the 22nd anniversary of Pokhran II nuclear tests today, Prime minister Narendra Modi on May 11 recalled the determined leadership of then prime minister Atal Behari Vajpayee that helped the country come out of the nuclear closet.
In his twitter post, PM Modi stated that, “The tests in Pokhran in 1998 also showed the difference a strong political leadership can make.”
The tests in Pokhran in 1998 also showed the difference a strong political leadership can make.
Here is what I had said about Pokhran, India’s scientists and Atal Ji’s remarkable leadership during one of the #MannKiBaat programmes. pic.twitter.com/UuJR1tLtrL
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) May 11, 2020
Recalling his Mann ki Baat radio broadcast two years ago on the 20th anniversary of Pokhran II, PM Modi stated Vajpayee’s words had filled the country with pride and valor. Paying tributes to India’s scientific community, the PM added that the way the tests were conducted in secrecy, undetected by US satellites, was to the credit of Indian scientists.
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.
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) May 11, 2020
Marking its entry into the nuclear club, India, on 11-13 May, 1998, tested five nuclear devices at the Indian Army’s Pokhran Test Range in Rajasthan. National Technology Day is observed every year on May 11.
India had cited the threat from China for going nuclear but the key countries mainly the US and it’s allies imposed punitive sanctions on India that were far more crippling than the ones imposed in the aftermath of the 1974 test.
Despite the same, The sanctions were later lifted in 2001. India and the US later went on to sign the civil nuclear cooperation agreement that overturned 34 years of the nuclear pariah status for India and brought the country into the web of global nuclear commerce.
