On April 2, 1954, Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru made a speech in the Lok Sabha that would put India on the global stage of nuclear disarmament. Prompted by the U.S.’s ‘Castle Bravo’ thermonuclear test of the previous month, which was reportedly so powerful that it overwhelmed all measuring instruments, Nehru called for “a standstill agreement” on nuclear testing. This speech was marked by pragmatism, vision, and self-assurance. Newly decolonised India, with all the problems of nation-building and none of the traditional markers of international power such as military and economic might — or even nuclear weapons to disarm — was an unlikely candidate for this leadership role; yet such was Nehru’s belief in India’s global standing that he not only called for this moratorium but also pushed for it at every opportunity and forum. With this speech, he cemented India’s claim to leadership, gave impetus to calls that eventually yielded the Partial Test Ban Treaty (PTBT), and arguably limited horizontal nuclear proliferation by insisting on treating nuclear weapons as beyond the pale.
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