“India will never treat its scientists in this manner,” said Chidambaram, expressing his view on the matter at a time when the Christopher Nolan-directed movie ‘Oppenheimer’ is making waves globally, reviving interest in the history and development of the atomic bomb.
Chidambaram said he recently saw the movie with his daughter, and described it as a “good effort”.
In 1954, Oppenheimer was stripped of his security clearance following a hearing by the US Atomic Energy Commission, as he was suspected of having Leftist leanings and sabotaging the hydrogen bomb project.
However, on December 16, 2022, the US secretary of energy, Jennifer Granholm, reversed the decision saying the 1954 verdict against Oppenheimer was a “flawed process”.
Speaking to TOI on Tuesday, Chidambaram described Oppenheimer as a brilliant scientist who did not deserve the treatment he received from the US government.
Asked whether the US nuclear physicist should have accepted the invitation of then prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru and Homi Bhabha to visit and settle down in India, Chidambaram, the author of the recently-released book ‘India Rising: Memoir of A Scientist’, co-authored with Suresh Gangotra, said: “It is my personal opinion that Nehru and Bhabha could not have called him because of the political implications.”
