Operation Smiling Buddha: All You Need to Know About India’s 1st Nuclear Test in 1974; Top 10 Quotes

About 50 years ago, in a secret mission, India made history when it became the first country outside the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council, to successfully test a nuclear bomb. With this, it became the sixth nuclear power in the world after the United States, the Soviet Union (now Russia), the United Kingdom, France, and China.

This nuclear operation was named Operation Smiling Buddha. Today, it is known as the Pokhran-I nuclear test. On May 18, 1974, the Indian Army tested a nuclear explosion in a 107-meter-deep underground shaft at the Pokhran Test Range in Rajasthan.

Incidentally in 1974, May 18 was also Buddha Jayanti, a festival day marking the birth of Gautama Buddha.

After the successful test, Raja Ramanna, the then director of Bhabha Atomic Research Centre conveyed a secret message to former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and said, “The Buddha has finally smiled.”

The Indian Ministry of External Affairs described this test as a “peaceful nuclear explosion”, amongst global concerns about the proliferation of nuclear weapons. In response to India’s nuclear test, the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) was formed.

NSG was a group of forty-eight nuclear supplier countries that came together to control the export of nuclear-related equipment, technology, and material to non-nuclear-weapon states.

Operation Smiling Buddha is believed to have increased the popularity of the Indira Gandhi government, even as internationally many countries like Canada and New Zealand openly criticised India for pursuing nuclear weapons. The Pokhran-I nuclear test was followed by the Pokhran-II nuclear test in 1998.

Top 10 quotes on Operation Smiling Buddha

1. “The Buddha has finally smiled.”- Raja Ramanna, former director of Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, informing former PM Indira Gandhi on the bomb’s successful detonation.
2. “The Pokhran test was a bomb, I can tell you now. An explosion is an explosion, a gun is a gun, whether you shoot at someone or shoot at the ground I just want to make clear that the test was not all that peaceful.” – Raj Ramanna, Former Director of India’s Nuclear Program
3. “There was never a discussion among us over whether we shouldn’t make the bomb. How to do it was more important. For us, it was a matter of prestige that would justify our ancient past. The question of deterrence came much later. Also, as Indian scientists we were keen to show our Western counterparts, who thought little of us those days, that we too could do it.” – Raj Ramanna, Former Director of India’s Nuclear Program
4. “Our nuclear science is dedicated to development, to achieving freedom for one, and providing the essentials of an honourable life for our masses. I repeat that we have no intention of embarking on a nuclear weapon program. We want to make the desert bloom and not to make the world a desert.” – Indira Gandhi
5. “The announcement of an underground nuclear explosion by India raises more urgently than ever the need for an international agreement to end all nuclear testing.” – Norman Kirk, former Prime Minister of New Zealand
6. “The U.S. did not believe it possible to distinguish between explosions for peaceful and military purposes.” – David T. Schneider, former US Deputy Chief of Mission
7. “Mrs Gandhi guaranteed peaceful use of nuclear energy, according to our definition, which did not extend to explosions. Mr Trudeau had made it clear to Mrs Gandhi that Canada would regard any nuclear explosion as a non-peaceful act.” – Ivan Head, former chief foreign policy adviser of former Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau
8. “I think it highly unwise to organise a worldwide reaction to Indian nuclear tests for the following reasons: First, it would antagonise India to no benefit since the test must reflect a long-term program in any event. Second, it is symptomatic of the self-serving and self-promoting tendency for the domestic record often characteristic of US foreign policy. The impact of our breast-beating on the programs of other countries will be marginal.” – Henry Kissinger, former United States secretary of state
9. “I am not surprised that India has exploded a nuclear device. I was sure India would do so sooner or later. The State Department wanted to launch a campaign against India, but I had to firmly put it down and authorised the issue of only a mild statement. I do not mind if India makes nuclear weapons. In fact, I am sure India will do so. Why should India not make them if she has the capability when we and other nuclear powers make them?” – Henry Kissinger, former United States secretary of state
10. “On this day in 1974, India conducted its first nuclear test, Smiling Buddha under the leadership of then PM Smt Indira Gandhi ji & with the untiring efforts & contribution of our scientists & military officers. My tributes to them, who wrote a new chapter in India’s nuclear journey.” – Ashok Gehlot.

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