Atomic testing in India marks the arrival of leaders with a world view completely opposed to the vision of those who led the country at independence and for many years thereafter. The change, according to PNS contributor Babu Bhaskar, who reported on the country's first nuclear test for PNS in 1974, represents a move from a philosophy of nonalignment to a philosophy of strength. Bhaskar is a former editor of United News India, one of India's leading wire services.

With a triple nuclear explosion on May 11 followed by a double explosion on May 13, India has made a clean break with the past.

India has tested a nuclear device just once before -- 24 years ago, long before the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. The latest explosions are not merely large-scale repeats of that 1974 test, but represent a change in nuclear strategy.

In 1974, Indira Gandhi's government spoke of "implosion" and reaffirmed the commitment to use nuclear energy for peaceful purposes only, a policy evolved by India's first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru. The current government made no such announcement, although Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee expressed India's readiness to accede to some of test ban treaty provisions.

Vajpayee and his Bharatiiya Janata Party (BJP) never subscribed to the atoms for peace concept. Indeed, in election after election the BJP and its predecessor party pledged to make the bomb if voted to power.

This is not to say that India forgot all about nuclear arms. It continued to enlarge its nuclear capability, but tended to move with great circumspection. Now the lid is off.

The transition reflects a change in world-view. Nehru saw a world divided into two power blocs and charted the path of non-alignment, staying clear of both. His "soaring idealism" (J. F. Kennedy's expression) gave him some measure of moral authority.

Vajpayee sees a world where physical strength is what counts, a tenet borrowed from the pan-Hindu Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (literally National Volunteer Society).

It takes time to organize a nuclear test series, and work obviously started long before the present government took office in March. An earlier BJP regime called off a planned test under pressure from Washington after U.S. spy satellites spotted intense activity near the desert test site.

The BJP managed to come to power with less than a quarter of the votes polled and many observers thought the lack of a clear majority would prevent any major policy shift. But the lack of a parliamentary majority probably gave the BJP an additional push. It needed something to boost its position and reckoned that the bomb will be quite popular, and a quick public opinion survey across the country shows overwhelming support for the decision. Significantly, a large majority expect Pakistan to follow suit . But they are not worried -- they want to celebrate the moment of glory, however brief.

Other political parties -- realizing the BJP has stolen the march on them -- have been largely silent. Some doubt the wisdom of defying world opinion but do not criticize the government openly lest they should be seen as being out of step. They will find it even more difficult to be critical when the country braces to face the consequences of the U.S. sanctions and other punitive measures by the world community.

The nuclear tests have come as India is campaigning for a permanent seat for itself in an enlarged U.N. Security Council. Whether they will help or hinder that campaign remains to be seen.