Explained: How J Robert Oppenheimer's Indian connection had to do with country's first PM Jawaharlal Nehru

Christopher Nolan’s recently released film Oppenheimer chronicles the journey of the renowned scientist J Robert Oppenheimer- the father of atomic bombs. His fascination towards the Hindu scripture Bhagavad Geeta is known to many people close to him and even Nolan himself. The scientist is said to have studied Sanskrit at Berkeley.

In the film made on his life, there’s a reference to the Bhagavad Geeta but the scientist’s Indian connect and roots could be related to the country’s first Prime Minister too- Jawaharlal Nehru. This revelation has been made by author Nayantara Sahgal in her book Jawaharlal Nehru Civilizing A Savage World. The author is Nehru’s niece and in the book, she has written about that one phone call that was made by Oppenheimer during the time of the Non-Alignment Movement amid the battle between USA and USSR.

According to Sahgal, Oppenheimer delivered a secret message through Bengali poet and academic Amiya Chakravarti.

What was the message?

And the quote- “Oppenheimer wants you [Nehru] to know that work of a most ‘horrible and deadly nature’ is being done on the atom bomb, that step by step America is ‘deliberately’ moving towards a war of annihilation. The recent promises given by Truman and Attlee regarding the atom have resulted in research for a weapon of the same deadly quality which will be kept secret and used INSTEAD of the atom.”

It’s also suggested that the scientist begged India to maintain its foreign policy as he didn’t want any more catastrophe after Hiroshima-Nagasaki.

What about Nehru?

The new biography of Homi J Bhabha by Bakhtiar K Dadabhoy states Nehru did invite Oppenheimer after his trials and even extended immigration prospects to India.

Indian citizenship to Oppenheimer?

After controversial downfall of J. Robert Oppenheimer, the father of the atomic bomb, PM Nehru offered him Indian citizenship. According to a report published in The Hindustan Times, Julius Robert Oppenheimer, the father of the atomic bomb, was offered Indian citizenship by Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru in 1954 after the famed American physicist was shunned by his own country. But her didn’t consider the offer.

“But I do not think Oppenheimer considered the offer seriously because he was a deeply patriotic American,” Kai Bird, the co-author of the book American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J Robert Oppenheimer, told Hindustan Times in an interview.