The Pokhran Nuclear Test was done on 18th May, 1974. This operation was called The Smiling Buddha. India did this test to confirm before the world that they also have nuclear power. Even though the P-5 told India to sign the NPT, India did not sign it. This was a secret mission that the Indian Army carried out. It was a secret because the first one was captured by America as they had satellites on Pokhran. So, in the Smiling Buddha, the Indian army did the test preparations during the “blind spots” which were for one hour in the day and at night. The Indian army did the preparations during the night-blind spots as it was too hot during the day. They did the test underground. The people on the team were Dr. Anil Kakodkar, Dr. Rajagopala Chidambaram, Dr. K. Santhanam, Dr. M. S. Ramakumar, APJ Abdul Kalam. They even had code names based on the Mahabharata. They got onions so that no radiation could be given out. My opinion on this is that this was a very good thing as it was underground and India could show its power. The President at that time was Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
