Elated Indians see nuclear testing series as assertion of world status status

The series of nuclear tests conducted by India this week has generated unprecedented euphoria across the country. The tests are seen as a big step forward by India to become a major international power.

There is indeed some anxiety about the economic sanctions threatened by the international community. But at the moment most Indians are far too elated to worry about the hardships ahead.

"At last, I feel proud to be an Indian. We have shown the world what we are capable of," exulted Ravindra Nath, a New Delhi accountant.

Such assertions reflect the public mood, particularly amongst the vociferous urban middle-classes. Ever since the country gained independence over five decades ago, they have often lamented India's inability to command international respect commensurate with its size and population.

Now at one stroke, the BJP regime's bold nuclear gambit appears to have realised a very old middle-class dream.

There is also considerable exultation about the discomfiture in Islamabad at India's new-found nuclear status. In fact, the mood is comparable to that in 1971 when Pakistan lost the war and was divided into two.

"Now that we have the bomb, Pakistan will have to think twice before it plays mischief in Kashmir," said a beaming retired bureaucrat, Madan Lal. Questions about the dangers of a nuclear arms race in the region if Islamabad too explodes a bomb are dismissed with disdain.

Most people here are convinced that Pakistan does not have the technological capabilities to match India in the nuclear field.

But it would be wrong to view the nuclear tests merely as one-upmanship in the sub-continent. Even more than browbeating Pakistan, they are seen as a counter to the country's giant neighbour, China. Its military might, including a lethal nuclear arsenal, has for long been a major bogey.

Although relations between the two states have improved over the past decade, memories of the 1962 Chinese invasion still evoke feelings of shame and vulnerability. It is the only war that India has clearly lost.

Significantly the Indian Prime Minister, Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee, in his letter to international leaders explaining the tests, laid particular emphasis on the security threat from China and accusing it of forming an axis with Pakistan. Just a few weeks before the tests the Defence Minister, Mr George Fernandes, declared China enemy number one.

There is also growing envy and resentment here at the economic clout acquired by China in recent years. Most Indians feel strongly about China pulling well ahead in every field, although the two states are of similar size.

"The Chinese have become a mighty nation because they have had the courage to stand up to the United States and other western powers. Our politicians, on the other hand, get frightened every time Washington or London says boo," lamented a senior government official.

Indeed it is China's successful intransigence in the face of western pressures that is behind the government's calculations that India too can present the world with a nuclear fait accompli and get away with it.

Every day newspapers are flooded with editorials and articles advocating Beijing as a role model. There is much admiration at the way the Chinese have manipulated the international community by using their vast consumer market as a bait.

Most commentators feel that there is no reason India should not emulate the same tactics.

While to a large extent the underground blasts have been propelled by India's post-colonial dream to become a world power, nuclear strategists here give more dispassionate reasons for their timing. They feel that the country had more to lose than gain by the ambiguity which has shrouded the nuclear programme, ever since the first test was carried out 24 years ago ostensibly to tap nuclear energy for peaceful purposes.

"This ambiguity was hurting us both ways. We were being slammed for not signing non-proliferation treaties and yet successive governments failed to go ahead with acquiring nuclear weapons," asserted Dr Brahma Chellany, nuclear strategist and fellow of the prestigious Indian Institute of Policy Research.

Dr Chellany is also against the government rushing into signing the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) under international pressure until India actually has nuclear weapons. "We are going to fritter away our advantage like in 1974 if we once again stop mid-way," he added.

Yet the middle-class yearning for major power status through the bomb, and the logic to go nuclear provided by strategists, are not new. Despite this, previous governments have balked at crossing the nuclear Rubicon, fearing international reprisals and isolation.

The real reason behind the transition from circumspection to confrontation on the nuclear issue is a change of political guard in New Delhi after the recent national elections. For the first time the reins of power are held by the BJP, a fervent advocate of the bomb for many decades past.

The BJP was the only political party which promised to exercise India's nuclear option in its election manifesto. Soon after forming a coalition government two months ago it included this as the highlight of a new national agenda.

Many still refused to take the BJP seriously in the belief that the compulsions of governance would impose restraint. But there are reasons to believe that the party was goaded into swiftly implementing the election promise by its hard-liners owing allegiance to the Hindu fundamentalist group Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh.

The Sangh, popularly known as the RSS, is avowedly committed to a Hindu militarist state. In a curious coincidence the RSS mouthpiece, Organiser, came out with an issue devoted to the nuclear question the same day as the first round of underground blasts.

And just last week the chief of the fundamentalist group, Professor Rajendra Singh, who is himself a nuclear physicist, declared in a rare public statement that India should start building a nuclear arsenal instead of depending on conventional weapons.

The threat of international sanctions does not worry the Hindu fundamentalists. In fact, this suits the RSS, which is in favour of a boycott of foreign goods and multi-national companies.

The fundamentalist group has for long advocated a tough policy towards the West and an even more aggressive posture towards Pakistan and China.

However, such extreme postures are unlikely to find support amongst the middle classes. Their present euphoria may quickly evaporate if the country is completely isolated.

Moreover, serious economic disruption because of sanctions could also bring pressure on the government from the business community.