Subrahmanyam is mostly identified as the premier ideological champion of India 's nuclear programme and its exercising of the nuclear weapons option — which began with India 's first ' peaceful ' Smiling Buddha nuclear test in 1974 and culminated with the 1998 ' Shakti ' series of weapons tests , both in Pokhran , Rajasthan . His polemics , articulated over five decades , on India 's development as a nuclear nation , with civilian and weapons capabilities , have proven both influential and contentious with supporters and detractors alike — of nuclear development and nuclear disarmament . His strong views and trenchant criticism of the inherent inequalities of the global Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty regimes are widely known and referenced , as well as being heavily commented on . He often used the term ' nuclear apartheid ' to decry this situation and routinely lambasted the five established nuclear states for forcing the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty on everyone else while refusing all proposals for nuclear disarmament , including one proposed by India in 1986 . He also coined the phrase ' nuclear ayatollahs ' to refer to the western non-proliferation lobby that routinely chided India for pursuing a nuclear programme ; and later for finalising an accord on nuclear co-operation with the US in 2007
Shakti '
Pokhran-II
K. Subrahmanyam