By S.Narendra
Former
Spokesperson, Govt. Of India
An Untold story, for the 1st time in PRapport
Buddha had smiled a second time on Operation Shakti day - May 11, 1998!
The decision to explode the nuclear bomb had been taken by Prime Minister Vajpayee heading the first NDA government and the US and its allies swiftly tried to make India a ‘nuclear pariah’ by imposing strict sanctions. Even while the diplomatic pressure and tension was mounting on India,
another kind of unease was palpable in top echelons in nuclear establishment. Quoting unidentified sources from the latter, media was reporting that the nuclear establishment headed by Dr Chidambaram (chairman of Atomic Energy Commission), and Dr Ani l Kakodkar (head of Bhabha Atomic Research Center) , (and their predecessors) were unhappy that their stellar, silent , role in making India a nuclear power, was receiving less media attention.
DRDO (defence
research and development organisation) headed by Dr.Abdul Kalam and his deputy
K.Santhanam, had not only provided the
logistics for the explosion, but deceived the American hawk-eye satellites. This particular feat of
DRDO, especially making the Americans red-faced, was greatly relished by media ,
and the limelight was on DRDO heroes. K.Santhanam was media savvy and was
prepared to walk where angels feared to tread.
AEC and DRDO Roles: Dr.Chidambaran,
had
shown me how his team had successfully developed the computer model of the
device and had succeeded in conducting the test
and it only needed to be physically tested for materialising a bomb. The DRDO
and defence personnel had played a critical role by planting the nuclear device
in abandoned wells in Pokharan desert and
laying in the darkness of night miles of wire for
connecting it to the station where the
trigger was located, and their nocturnal
labour had avoided the American
spy satellites. But the actual assembly of the device, according to nuclear
establishment, was the result of their expertise.
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| Vajpayee at Pokhran site |
When the first
nuclear test was carried out on Buddha Purnima, in May 1974, the goal was to
move towards a nuclear weapon. The
nuclear establishment was, however, ready for carrying out a test
for weaponisation long before 1998 as Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR)
had initiated nuclear research way back in 1944 under Homi Bhabh’s leadership. In
fact, prime minister Narasimha Rao had also given the go ahead at the fag-end of 1995 for such a test but
could not carry it out ,as his decision
had leaked out to the US that pressurised him to abandon it.
Media Visit to Pokharan: PM
Vajpayijee, accompanied by the leaders of Atomic Energy commission and DRDO, visited the blast site at Pokharan and I had taken a C-130
Hercules plane load of Indian and foreign media for coverage. I had specific instructions
to ensure that Dr.Chidambaram and Dr.Kakodkar received sufficient
visual media exposure. As the media was hungry for details about the way India
had managed the blast , it was decided to arrange a few days later a joint press conference to be addressed by Dr. Chidambaram
and Dr. Kakodkar on the one side and Dr.Kalam and K. Santhanam from DRDO on the
other.
There was some
apprehension that Dr.Kalam, who was associated with the
development of missiles (weapon delivery systems), might be trapped by media into
answering questions about nuclear weaponisation and their delivery
vehicles. Post-Pokharan, India had already declared a moratorium on further
testing of nuclear devices and had declared ‘No-first use’ of nuclear weapon. The bomb was meant as a deterrent and
primarily for defence purposes. A tricky issue thrown up into media space by
both the defence minister George Fernandez and Pramod Mahajan, soon after
the blast, was that the Indian nuclear bomb was aimed at China and this had
created considerable embarrassment to the government.
I was told to
skip such questions. On instructions from Misra, I met both Dr.Chidambaram and
Dr.Kalam and without disclosing the instructions I had received, I discussed
the broad framework of the press conference and requested them to allow me to
intervene whenever there were any political questions.
Pak Bomb News amidst Press Conference: There must have been more than 400 media persons from
India and broad, with dozens of TV teams present at the press conference, and
almost everyone wanted to shoot questions from the word go. I had the privilege
of sitting between the two teams of eminent scientists of DRDO and the nuclear
establishment and broadly set the rules for the media
persons, emphasising that the eminent scientists were available to answer
questions solely about the technical aspects of the blast.
The press
conference was proceeding smoothly and had reached the half-way mark. I had
managed to ensure that the questions were
equally thrown at both the teams. As could be expected, the media was
not so much interested in the technical details but was pressing hard to get
answers for political aspects, like how
India was likely to cope with the US sanctions,
future of the nuclear programme such as
weaponisation and the
development of delivery vehicles, China vs India, India vs Pak-arising out of
India becoming a nuclear armed power. I had to delicately move the deliberations
away from what then seemed to be strategic and
diplomatic mine-fields.
Even as we were
busy in responding to the volley of questions amidst the din, my able assistant Ravichandran, rushed into the press conference hall and
pressed a chit into my hand and whispered that the principal secretary to PM
was calling me on the secret phone (RAX) in
my room and was insistent that I speak to him urgently. I was in great
dilemma because I did not want to leave the room, lest some unwelcome
question on tricky diplomatic issues crop up: nor could I not attend an urgent
phone call from the brain behind the nuclear test.
I managed to excuse
myself and went to the phone. Brajesh Misra, at the other end spoke in a hushed
voice : “Narendra, Pakisitan has exploded
the bomb. Please tell this to Dr.Kalam
and Chidambaram. Later let me know how the press conference went “. I returned
to the press conference, apologised to the media for leaving the room but did
not tell the eminent scientists about the call I had just received. I did not
want the focus of our press conference to be diverted.
Meanwhile, the
senior foreign service officer, Hardeep Puri (who retired as India’s permanent
representative to the UN in 2013) entered the
conference room and passed on a message about the explosion conducted by Paksitan and
expected me to announce it. When I did not show any reaction, he prompted a
media person to ask : “Have you any news about Pakistan conducting a test’?
I intervened:
“This press conference is about the Indian nuclear explosion. If Paksitan has
exploded one, they will announce it”. And the press conference continued.
OMG point and RAW info: Again,
my assistant, Ravichandran appeared in the conference hall and whispered into
my ears: “Sir, the principal secretary is on the line. Insists that you speak
to him and he is not disconnecting the line.” Displaying a fake smile
to the media, I excused myself and went to the phone. Misraji: “Narendra, have you told Dr.Kalam and Chidambaram about the Pakistani bomb” With some timidity, I told him: “No, Sir.
Why should we announce the Pak bomb in our press conference’?”
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| Narendra - The author |
I later learnt
from Misra that someone in RAW had misread earthquake tremors in Pak region and
reported it as a nuclear blast. Don’t blame RAW, because instrument
s like seismograph do not make any distinction between different kinds
of tremors. Around that time, Pak was expected to respond in haste to India’s
explosion.
Actually, Pak
nuclear test took place on May 28th, several days after our press
conference!
(This is the 4th in a series of exclusives to PRapport by S Narendra, former spokesperson of the Govt of India and ex-adviser to Prime Ministers)
