Since 1962, India's relations with China had been bitter till recent years. The diplomatic situation has eased but the shadow of the past loomed large. It was former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee whose visit to China melted the ice frozen for years and paved way for future negotiations on the prickly border dispute.

Chances of solving the dispute are much brighter now than before. Trade relations between the two countries are also on the upswing.

Strategic analyst C Raja Mohan credits the improvement in bilateral relations to India's status of being a nuclear power. He was speaking in a seminar in New Delhi, organised by the BJP on the seventh anniversary of Pokharan II. Also present on the occasion were top leaders like Atal Bihari Vajpayee, L K Advani and Jaswant Singh.

At the outset, Raja Mohan clarified that he is in no way linked to the party.

According to him, the hardware for Pokharan II was provided by the previous regime, but it couldn't have succeeded without the software which the BJP-led Vajpayee Government provided. He recounted how Pt Nehru placed great emphasis on atomic energy and how Pokharan I was conducted during Indira Gandhi's regime.

Raja Mohan opined that the recent change of attitude in Pakistan about confidence building measures was due to the fact that both the countries are nuclear armed. Their nuclear status compels both of them to accept the reality that geographical map cannot be altered without risking mass destruction. It can be recalled that when Prime Minister Vajpayee announced that India has tested nuclear power on May 11 and 13, Indians celebrated it around the globe.

On the contrary, the Americans were wonderstruck by the blasts. Then Deputy Secretary of State Strobe Talbott in his book Engaging India described the shock and awe in White House and Pentagon. For the US, it was a triple shock at one go.

First, the tests permanently damaged the American efforts of maintaining the hegemony of a chosen few over nuclear weapons. Secondly, the Americans were annoyed that a country like India can dare to defy the mightiest nation in today's uni-polar world. Last but not the least, Americans were amazed as to how Indian scientists managed to fool the electronic eye in the sky.

In my opinion, it wasn't a failure of American spy satellites, but a strategic victory of our scientists.

Late Prime Minister P V Narasimha Rao, too, had decided to carry out Pokharan II. There were hectic preparations around the test site. However, the preparations were spotted by US spy satellites and the White House was alerted about a possible Indian nuclear tests.

The US administration mounted pressure on India not to carry out the tests, and sadly, we buckled under the pressure.

After the oath-taking ceremony, Rao handed over a chit to incoming Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, congratulating him profusely and advising him to carry out Pokharan II with precaution. But the Government survived just 13 days.

However, after the 1998 elections, the Vajpayee Government went ahead with Pokharan II within weeks of its taking the oath. Indian scientists never lost sight of the electronic eye and managed to fool it. Scientists and engineers were ready with their indigenous wherewithal and technology which Raja Mohan calls hardware. But the leadership had to decide and time its every move. That's what the Vajpayee Government did.

As expected, the entire world condemned India for conducting the tests. US and its allies placed sanctions, super sanctions and ultra-super sanctions on India But the country was all set to face the challenge. The Indian economy was resilient enough to bear such shocks.

Contrary to apprehensions, India's relations with the US matured at a much faster pace because India too had become a de facto nuclear State. Ultimately, Indian diplomats succeeded in convincing the world that India is a responsible State which knows how to safeguard it's nuclear arsenal.

During the last four years, countries who condemned the tests have been queuing up to improve bilateral ties with New Delhi. This miracle has been brought about by Pokharan II. A couple of years after the tests, several countries have endorsed India's contention for a permanent seat in the Security Council.

Vajpayee succeeded where others had failed. This was the commitment of the BJP from its Jansangh days. When China conducted its first nuclear test in 1964, both the CPI and the CPM, had hailed it. However, when India did the same, the same parties went hammer and tongs against it.

Courtesy: The Pioneer, Amy 15, 2005