10th anniversary of Pokhran test remains a quiet affair

POKHRAN ANNIVERSARY: Pokhran was meant to catapult India to the high road for big powers.

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New Delhi: The 10th anniversary of nuclear tests at Pokhran on Sunday seemed to be a quiet affair.

It seems no one in the current government wants to mark the achievement in any way.

Pokhran was meant to catapult India to the high road for big powers but there's little cheer at the tenth anniversary of the nuclear blasts at Pokhran. In fact it is left to members of the former dispensation like A P J Abdul Kalam to even mark the event.

Speaking at a function to mark technology day, Kalam said, “India's tests were possible because of the ‘visionary stand of former prime minister Atal Behari Vajpayee’”.

While the Left holds fast to its anti-nuclear, anti-US stand, the Congress says there is no need to politicise scientists' achievements.

"Don’t politicise the achievements of scientific community. When NDA was in power on the occasion of 25th anniversary of Pokhran II, they didn’t celebrate it,” says Kapil Sibal.

Strategic analysts say the UPA's backfoot on the country's future nuclear programme, the Indo-Us deal is only adding to the pressure on what India has achieved so far, with nuclear fuel fast running out.

“Reactors are running on 50 per cent of capacity. Nuclear future is doubtful if deal not signed,” says Strategic Affairs Analyst, K Subrahmaniam.

Ten-years after Pokhran, India comes across as a reluctant nuclear power without much clarity about where it's headed.