Narasimha Rao ordered nuke tests, not Vajpayee: Kalam
25 Jan 2013
India created an effective smokescreen around its nuclear weapons programme that culminated in the 1998 Pokhran tests, launching a series of missiles and dropping ''experimental'' bombs to divert the attention of prying eyes, former President of India A P J Abdul Kalam has revealed.
In some candid comments, the 'father of India's missile programme' also indicated that it was former Congress Prime Minister P V Narasimha Rao who sanctioned the tests, though the Bharatiya Janata Party won the elections soon after; and they were carried out during the subsequent Atal Behari Vajpayee regime.
Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam, to give his full name, was at the height of his scientific career during that period, and is widely spoken of as 'the father of India's missile programmes.
He was the most prominent figure in the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) before moving on to take charge of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). On Thursday, Kalam dropped some bombshells of his own, with anecdotes that might well put have him afoul of the Official Secrets Act.
Kalam said that in 1996, Narasimha Rao was quite prepared to test the nuclear bomb, but deferred the matter and left it to his successor Vajpayee.
Kalam, the then scientific advisor to the defence minister, and his team of scientists had been asked by Narasimha Rao to be ready to conduct the test in 1996 – just two days before the election results were announced. But after the elections Rao asked him to brief Vajpayee on the matter.
