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The triple test at Pokhran ends three decades of nuclear debate, self-denial and fence-sitting. Grave doubts had World News always lurked behind the so-called national consensus on the nuclear EIW issue. Several times in recent years Indian leadership -- irrespective of Market party affiliations in an era of Indicators shifting coalitions -- came close to taking the plunge. It is just as well now that this momentous step has been Screen taken by leaders who have always believed in unabashed and unambiguous Celebrity nuclearisation. What is more Chat reassuring, even for those who may have been arguing for restraint and ambiguity, is the fact that these Express leaders also enjoy an impeccable Computers reputation in terms of personal integrity and national commitment. It Advertisers is, therefore, reasonable to presume Forum that they have chosen to make so bold a departure from the past after a great deal of deliberation as to what is best for India's interests. The scientific Career India wherewithal had been there for several years now. The only thing that lacked was the trigger device of political Business will andthe kind of supreme conviction Forum that enables leaders to move away from he familiar, well-trodden path and Match Maker thereby find themselves a place in history. Express It was for two reasons that Mrs Indira Properties Gandhi failed to get that particular political megatonnage from her 1974 Travel test. One was her declining credibility & Tourism during those chaotic months and the second was her inability to go the full Information distance. Several PhDs have already Technology been written by Western and Indian nuclear scholars on the exact meaning and implication of the term ``Peaceful Astrosurf Nuclear Explosion'' (PNE) but the world, by and large, saw this as an Eco-India expression of weakness and hypocrisy. No one bought the outrageous argument Dr Know that the explosion was ``peaceful'' and India also failed to derive any of the [Screen: The Bubenefits that would have naturally accrued to a nuclear weapons state in the pre-NPT and CTBT world. This, now, Graffiti is the major challenge for the Vajpayee government and as the first official Crossword statements indicated India is prepared with a diplomatic wet blanket to containthe fallout by offering to be a Drumbeat: Ad willing, and active player in the Buzzaar international nuclear arms control regime. The difference now is that India seeks to play that game as a nuclear weapons power. This is the end of ambiguity -- and hypocrisy. This is a time for popular euphoria and celebration. And celebrate we must as this spectacular success demonstrates to the world a remarkable scientific capability built during a quarter century of international technology transfer bans and restrictions. It is also a cause for reassurance that even in these cynical times when we tend to believe so easily that any fellow Indian's loyalties are purchasable for a few dollars, a scholarship or a green card the establishment has managed to keep such a major move a secret despite the snooping that extends from the Capital's garrulous cocktail circuit to outer space. But this is also a time for reflecting on where we go from here. The tests, though a great morale-booster for the nation whose spirits have only gone downhill,dipping with every little calamity or embarrassment since Operation Bluestar in 1984, have also come at a time when the currency that denotes a nation's strength has undergone a fundamental change. In the Seventies it was the nuclear megatonnage at your command that mattered. Today, it is per capita income, foreign exchange reserves and quality of life that matter. Pokhran-II is like a jump-start to India's dormant, frozen spirit. But it won't by itself, be a short-cut to the place India wishes, and deserves to have on international stage. It is now up to AB Vajpayee and LK Advani to moderate this euphoria, contain the diplomatic fallout and exploit the advantage they have given themselves, and India, by creating this new mood of resurgence. Copyright © 1998 Indian
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