Pokharan, then, is called a great scientific achievement rather than a demonstration of national resolve to assert nuclear weapons power status, boldly defying the threat of sanctions. The launch of one GSLV which places one crooked satellite about as close to its orbit as a DTC bus comes to its stop is supposed to make us a world space power. My reading of military history may be hazy but if the Vijayanta fought any glorious battles or even figured in any frontline strike formations ever, I am willing to be corrected. The great national, political consensus on science is as self-delusory as it is illiterate. We must learn to question it now.
Science is rational, transparent business.
It should be open to competition and peer review. It can only work that way. Wrap it in the tricolour, and you legitimise mediocrity and lack of accountability. Politicians love this. Every scientific 'achievement' is painted as a national success story.