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New Delhi: Indian scientists had set a “date” – a Sunday – for conducting nuclear tests in early 1997, but then Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda told them to wait “at least a year”.
In an interview published in his soon-to-be-released biography, groves in a field, Gowda cited three reasons for refusing to proceed: US pressure to sign the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT), the desire to improve relations with Pakistan and the economic situation.
The nuclear tests – Pokhran-II – were finally conducted in May 1998, almost seven weeks after Atal Bihari Vajpayee became prime minister. What his predecessors IK Gujral and HD Deve Gowda had chosen to stop these tests is a matter of public knowledge, but this is the first time Gowda has disclosed what really happened between him and the scientific establishment at the time.
In February 1997, Rajagopal Chidambaram, the then scientific advisor to Defense Minister APJ Abdul Kalam and then chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission of India, met Gowda in his office to seek his approval for nuclear tests. “I will give you permission. I will give you more money, but please wait for a year,” Gowda told him, as he revealed in an interview to his biographer, Sugata Srinivasaraju.
The then PM explained to the scientists: “There is a lot of pressure on me regarding CTBT. I am also trying to improve relations with all my neighbors including Pakistan. The tests will throw everything we’ve been doing out of gear. Also, we need some more time to stabilize the economic situation… I am not afraid of sanctions, but I need time.”
Even when Gowda spoke, he observed that the scientists were “disappointed”. “He told me how it will show the world that India is powerful. I reiterated that I knew they were able to blast it the next day and I was not against the tests…
According to Gowda, Vajpayee was aware of the political uncertainty that surrounded him as Jayalalithaa’s AIADMK was an unreliable coalition ally. “He (Vajpayee) turned the tests into a nationalist slogan, which was unfortunate… That day (when Pakistan conducted the nuclear test), 50 million Pakistanis and 90 million Indians were equated. The profit was lost,” Gowda told Srinivasaraju.
Mehbooba Mufti’s father wanted the army to ensure her victory
When Mehbooba Mufti, the former Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir, contested her first assembly election from Bijbehara constituency in 1996 as a Congress candidate, her father, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, sought the help of the Army to ensure her victory, Lt Gen (Retd. ) is the biographer of JS Dhillon Deve Gowda. He was the Army’s XV Corps Commander in Kashmir when the elections were held.
“Once upon a time, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed came to meet me at my Badami Bagh office. He was in Congress those days. He said that both his daughter Mehbooba and his wife were contesting from Anantnag region and wanted them both to win,” Lt Gen Dhillon said in an interview with the biographer.
“I said ‘Mufti’ SaabI don’t know about victory, but take it from me, there will be voting. There can be any number of terrorists but there will be voting. Also, if you think we will help your daughter and wife win, it will not happen. He was a little taken aback,” said Lt Gen Dhillon.
Mufti Mohammad Sayeed and his daughter Mehbooba left the Congress to form the Jammu and Kashmir Peoples Democratic Party (JKPDP) in 1999.
Speaking to ThePrint on Tuesday, Lt Gen Dhillon confirmed that the former home minister had approached him to ensure his daughter’s victory in the elections. However, he said it had no bearing on his relationship with Saeed, who never spoke about the subject again. “But I must say that I have a lot of respect for Kashmiri politicians because of the way they act in such danger.”
ThePrint has reached out to Mehbooba Mufti for her comments on Lt Gen Dhillon’s claim of her father seeking Army support. The copy will be updated after they respond.
Gowda’s reluctance to become PM
In the biography, Deve Gowda detailed how strongly he petitioned against his candidacy for the post of Prime Minister in 1996. Then CPI(M) general secretary Harkishan Singh Surjit was working with the then West Bengal CM Jyoti Basu to choose the United Front’s PM. The latter’s candidature was vetoed by the Left party – which Basu described as a “historic blunder”.
The first choice of alliance partners was former PM VP Singh. Gowda, M. Karunanidhi, Chandrababu Naidu and Murasoli Maran had gone to meet Singh at his 1, Rajaji Marg residence in Delhi. Singh came to see them on the lawn, greeted them and went to his residence. “We came to know later that he had gone through the back door to some unknown place. After about two hours, his wife came out and told us…we should not wait and he would not agree to our offer to be PM.
After this Basu’s candidature was announced. After the CPI(M) rejected it, Basu summoned Gowda in the presence of Lalu Yadav and Surjeet and said that the then Chief Minister of Karnataka should take over. However, Gowda opposed it, saying he had been the chief minister for less than two years. “My career will end abruptly. Congress party will not let us run the government for long. I want to be like you (Jyoti Basu), sir. I want to rule Karnataka for many years… my bhi no happiness in Hindi Is… you are our elder, I beg you.”
As Jyothi Basu put it, Gowda “touched his feet” and “requested” him to accept his argument. The then Chief Minister of West Bengal said: “Mr. Gowda, shall I go out and tell the people of India that we have no secular alternative to (Atal Bihari) Vajpayee? Can we advertise in newspapers for a secular prime minister? Gowda finally conceded defeat.
Read also: Rao-Gowda-Gujral-Vajpayee PMO had ‘atom-bomb’ files on Pawar, Mulayam and others: Ex-IAS officer
Vajpayee’s offer to save Gowda government
The book, quoting officials of the then PMO, said that Gowda had “a year-long phobia”. He knew that the Congress would sooner or later back down to topple his government. His apprehension proved correct when Sitaram Kesari, the then Congress president, went to Rashtrapati Bhavan to submit a withdrawal letter in March 1997, barely 10 months after the party extended support to the Gowda government.
In his interview with the biographer, the former prime minister then gave a glimpse of the internal war in Congress. Organizational elections were to be held and there were many in the Congress who wished to replace Kesari. One day senior Congress leader Rajesh Pilot met Gowda. He talked about the three-year-old murder case against Kesari and asked if it could be reopened. Pilot was referring to the murder of Kesari’s personal physician Surendra Tanwar in 1993. The pilot also wrote a note to Gowda, who told the author that he had destroyed the note after the pilot left. A petition was filed in a Delhi court seeking a probe into Kesari’s role. Due to all this Kesari was questioned.
On 30 March 1997, Kesari went to the President with a letter of withdrawal. On 9 April, three days before Gowda was to be presented with the confidence motion, Kesari sent RK Dhawan to Gowda. Dhavan said Kesari was ready to withdraw the letter if he (Gowda) publicly apologized for not consulting him before taking major decisions and assured him that he would now consult him. “I said I would not apologize but could assure publicly that I would consult him after this. But this was not acceptable to Kesari,” Gowda told the biographer.
After the motion was moved by Gowda, Jaswant Singh gave the then Parliamentary Affairs Minister Shrikant Kumar Jena a chit for Gowda. It read: “We will save your government. Don’t resign. Accept our support.” belonged to Vajpayee.
(Edited by Gitanjali Das)
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