Desert, Secrecy and a Smiling Buddha: How India Secretly Became a Nuclear Power Twice

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May 11, 1998, nearly 24 years after India’s first nuclear test under Operation Smiling Buddha, the world awoke to news of three underground nuclear explosions at Pokhran. The tests, conducted under Operation Shakti, or Pokhran-II, marked the culmination of a nuclear journey that had begun in Rajasthan in 1974. India had shocked the world by successfully conducting the tests at Pokhran in Rajasthan. According to an official press statement, “These included a 45 kt thermonuclear device, a 15 kt fission device and a 0.2 kt sub-kiloton device. The two nuclear devices detonated simultaneously on 13 May were also in the sub-kiloton range, 0.5 and 0.3 kt.” The tests came to be known as Operation Shakti, or Pokhran-II.

Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee had long advocated for India to become a nuclear power. Defending the tests, he said the “action involved was balanced in that it was the minimum necessary to maintain what is an irreducible component of our national security calculus”.India had officially become a nuclear-armed state. But the foundations for that moment had been laid much earlier. On May 18, 1974, India had conducted its first nuclear test at Pokhran, Rajasthan, under the codename Smiling Buddha. Indira Gandhi, then Prime Minister of India, described it as a “peaceful nuclear explosion”.Although World War II ended in 1945, tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union continued through proxy conflicts during the Cold War. But with the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki on August 6, 1945 and August 9, 1945 respectively, followed by Soviet Union's test in 1949, there was an urgent need to put regulations.

In response, the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) was signed in 1968. Under the treaty, the five recognised nuclear powers, known as the P5, were acknowledged as nuclear-weapon states. These were countries that had manufactured or exploded a nuclear weapon before January 1, 1967. The treaty required these states not to transfer nuclear weapons or related technology to other countries, while non-nuclear states agreed not to develop or acquire such weapons.India objected to the treaty, calling it discriminatory. According to The Indian Express, foreign policy scholar Sumit Ganguly argued that India refused to sign because it “failed to address India’s misgivings”, particularly since non-nuclear states were asked to give up the option of nuclear weapons without any corresponding obligation on existing nuclear powers to disarm.Scientists Homi J. Bhabha and Vikram Sarabhai laid the foundations of India’s nuclear programme during the 1940s and 1950s. Bhabha later became the head of the Department of Atomic Energy, established in 1954.

Unlike her father Jawaharlal Nehru, Gandhi had fewer reservations about nuclear testing. Security concerns increased after China conducted its first nuclear test in Lop Nur in 1964. Gandhi strongly opposed the NPT and authorised efforts by the Indian nuclear establishment “to achieve a functional nuclear explosive capability over the next several years, in pursuit of the peaceful option if needed”, according to an article by the Observer Research Foundation titled “50 Years of Pokhran-I: Revisiting India’s Peaceful Nuclear Explosion”.India carried out the 1974 test in complete secrecy. On May 18, 1974, Smiling Buddha was detonated on the occasion of Buddha Jayanti. India had entered the exclusive group of nuclear-capable states.The consequences were immediate. India faced international isolation and lost access to critical nuclear fuel and technology from countries including the United States and Canada. According to the Observer Research Foundation, the Pokhran-I detonation also led to the passage of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Act of 1978 by the Carter administration.

India suffered massive economic and political consequences. But the 1998 tests marked one of the most important developments in Indian history. Despite global pressure and sanctions, India declared itself a nuclear weapons state. According to Learn About Nuclear Weapons, “India is not a member of the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and has not signed or ratified the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT). India is considered a de facto nuclear-weapon state as it developed its nuclear weapons after the NPT was negotiated in 1968. India is not a party to the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW).”This position is often contrasted with countries such as Iran, which is a signatory to the NPT. It has faced sustained international scrutiny and sanctions over concerns related to its nuclear programme and compliance with safeguards.