From what I understand in Nehru's time we were nowhere near achieving the mfg of a N weapon . For good reason too. The task of setting up & organising our N civilian reactor program , selecting suitable candidates with such a background , sending them abroad for further education , negotiating & concluding agreements with nations like the US & Canada for such technologies , etc took up most of Bhabha's time.
We were in a position to do so only after Nehru passed away . IIRC it was towards the fag end of Nehru's tenure when he was largely incapacitated thanks to the stroke he had suffered & during Shastri's tenure which was extremely brief. Shortly after Shastri passed away , Bhabha too met the maker courtesy a plane crash.
The program went into a limbo coz the prime political mover Shastri was no more & the prime mover of it on the technological side - Bhabha was no more too. It took some time for both sides to settle down with a new leadership.
IG herself wasn't too enamored of demonstrating our N prowess in the 1960s when she took over , which I won't get into here as that's a long story in itself suffice to say that the US 7th Fleet sailing into the BoB as part of Nixon & Kissinger's strategy to back Paxtan was an eye opener for her.
She resolved never to be blackmailed again in spite of the then USSR tailing the 7th fleet with their SSNs to make sure the USN didn't resort to any funny business. In fact the USN never entered the BoB & was at the cusp of entering it before the Soviets showed up & the former back tracked. She then green lighted the project & we had the first N test in 1974.
I'm not referring to you per se for calling him an anti national . Thru your post I was calling out those who did for the reasons I've given in the aforementioned post . Apologies if it came out as me accusing you of calling Nehru an anti national.
Secure his rule ? What exactly was the state of the opposition to him then in the 3 general elections the INC fought under his leadership ?
Am I ?
What was the economic conditions then for Nehru to embark on all those points you're raising with the benefit of hindsight ?
The biggest blunder both Pranami Gxxndu & his equally myopic disciple committed was to prevent exchange of populations. Till date that is what is haunting us especially on our Eastern Flank.
The Chinese occupation of Aksai Chin fails before this monumental blunder & most of the internal & external problems we're now facing owe itself directly to this blunder.
Add to it our inability to secure the borders for reasons already provided.
Patel died in the late 1950 . Goa was liberated in late 1961. Please get your facts right. You're probably referring to Junagadh or Hyderabad.
Please understand the difference between a rant & a well reasoned argument. The former can't be answered . The latter can.