How Is India’s 1974 Nuclear Tests Different From 1998? Why Did India Not Declare Itself Nuclear-capable In 1974 Itself?

As per the declaration, the nuclear test of 1974 was carried out to show the world India’s capabilities in the field of nuclear weapons as during the cold war in the year 1971( Bangladesh Liberation War ) India was on the verge of becoming a victim of the same. Because of this prime minister, Indira Gandhi decided to show the world that India was also capable of making the nuclear bomb. Hence the test of May 1974 was carried out. Whereas, the second test of 1998 was done to showcase the successful Indian nuclear power to the world as it was both a shock and surprise for the world after knowing about the nuclear power technologies India had developed.

As expected the reaction to these nuclear tests were not on the positive side by other developed countries and as seen the response after 1998 nuclear tests, the Indian nuclear program would have severely affected any conduct after 1974 if those nuclear embargos were imposed at that time as it took a lot of efforts and time for India to gain the credibility back after the 1998 test. Not to forget that the plutonium used in the 1974 test was secretly produced using the CIRUS reactor that was supplied by Canada along with this the Limited reserves of uranium also forced India to depend on other nations as our civilian nuclear program was not mature enough which lead to declaring India’s  1974 test as a “peaceful” nuclear explosion.

The political scenario also played a crucial role as India was having some of the technology to develop nuclear weapons but the leaders often had different views on nuclear weapons.  As Prime Minister like Nehru and Shastri who were followers of  Gandhian beliefs were against atom bombs however Nehru later changed his perspective after the war with China. Whereas leaders like Vajpayee gave the green signal to the scientists and encourage them towards such nuclear test weapons to declare India a full-fledged nuclear state. Which came out as a success in the 1998 nuclear test which provided India a seat at the global high table with the right to claim the tag of a responsible power testing country although India was the only country that has never signed the NPT but had followed all rules and still was able to maintain a nuclear program.

Therefore, I think what the people involved in this did was right because if the imposition of  1998 would have applied in 1974, then it would have been a whole different scenario and India wouldn’t be at the level which it is now. But like it is said, ” Victory is always possible for the person who refuses to stop fighting and if you have determination within you nothing is impossible in this world which was well proved by India from its Nuclear Tests “.