Open Secrets: The Explosive Memoirs of an Indian Intelligence Officer (79 page)

This decision was hastened more by a sudden detection of breast cancer of my wife. We suppressed the disturbing information from our children and continued with preventive treatment. The painful development forced me disengage from ISRO espionage case and suing the government for taking biased political decision against me.

Sunanda, my wife, finally succumbed to cancer in September 2001.

My political friend in the ruling party, R. K. Dhawan and industrialist Dhirubhai Ambani offered me lucrative jobs. Still suffering from the shocks of ignominious removal and detection of cancer of my wife, I resolved not to serve any boss in any system-government or private. I decided to take up again my pen, turn a freelance journalist and an author.

I had earned freedom and wanted to live and die a free man.

Intelligence is a tool of statecraft. It helps the state to maintain peace at home and make war and peace abroad. The intelligence community has served the bygone warriors, kings and monarchs. They are now servants of the people; at least they are presumed to be the servants of the representatives of the people in an elected constitutional democracy.

The trade has its own glamour and charisma, which is, in fact, derived glamour from the State Establishment. Like dark and dwarf stars the intelligence community cannot advertise its presence and emit its own glow. It emits the glow of the people it serves. If an agency like the CIA is termed ‘rogue’, it reflects the ‘roguish’ character of the ruler of the day.

The days of kings and queens have changed in many countries real and free elected democracy and constitutional liberty have substituted the draconian rules of dictators and controlled democracies. The intelligence fraternity is supposed to serve the System and the people who support the System, through expression of free will.

Has this goal been achieved in the real democracies? The candid answer is: yes and no. Yes, to some extent, in case of countries like the USA, UK and France, where the constitutional controls and accountability systems catch up with erring leaders like Nixon, Bush and Blair. The Iraq war fiasco has started catching up with Bush, whose election to the highest post has been subjected to scrutiny. Mounting evidence that his government had fudged the intelligence reports has already cornered Blair. However, the Establishment in the free democracies still tries to misuse the intelligence community.

The pseudo democratic countries and the countries shackled to tin pot dictators, religious and ideological theocrats, and military junta cannot help but suffer the excesses of their intelligence establishments, which are extension of the power hubs.

Unfortunately for India, a supposed free democratic country, the intelligence and investigation community have not been freed from the shackles of State Establishment. They are not accountable to the elected parliament and legislatures. The government can afford to breach the privacy of the citizens and unleash the agencies to penalise people who oppose the Establishment.

As an intelligence operator I had violated the constitutional norms on several occasions. I was a lonely traveller as far as my political proclivities were concerned. The quarrelling squirrels of conscience tormented me. I accept the responsibility of my political linkages, which did not arise out of pure professional requirement.

That politics has percolated down to each and every segment of the nation has been proved beyond doubt, from day one, after substitution of the imperial regime by the elected democracy. But several landmark political decisions, be it the Punjab imbroglio or the Kashmir fiasco, were dictated by petty political interests of the politicians.

The generated fault lines like the Bodo, Gorkha, UNLF, ULFA and TNLF have amply proved that the Indian political class do not understand the differences between minor political manipulation and major social, political, ethnic, and economic crevices they create for hanging on to the rotten twig, called power. They still try to divide the people with a view to rule. They are still busy at fragmenting the people on caste, creed and class lines with the sole purpose of generating favourable vote banks. This cannot be permitted by a strong constitutional democracy with adequate liberty, freedom and accountability built in.

The ISRO counterespionage case has amply proved that the political masters are not concerned with national security. Only a few years later this point was hammered in again by the Kargil invasion by Pakistan. The government of the day denied the nation an opportunity to dissect the functioning mechanism of its Intelligence Establishment. The R&AW, IB and the Directorate of Military Intelligence were let off the hook without proper accounting of the causes of a Grand National Failure. It was no less a System Failure than the colossal failure in 1962, when the Chinese had caught the Indian Establishment catnapping under the Panchsheel umbrella.

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Intelligence is basically dependent on human resources. Intelligence is generated by trained professionals and the machines and gadgets contrived and deployed by them. The loveliest and purest diamond becomes the pride of a beauty queen’s crown only when it is chiselled and polished by the master craftsman. Similarly, a raw piece of information is churned into intelligence by the trained and seasoned intelligence operator’s, before the same is used by the policy makers.

The Indian Intelligence Bureau (IB), of which I was an integral part for 29 years, is usually manned by professionals. In spite of deficiency in training, human resources management and development and provisioning of logistics, the cutting edge level of the IB operators has proved their worth by dedicatedly serving the Bureau, Government and the people. At least 50% of the human resources are dedicated to their profession. I had the unique opportunity to work with some of the best intelligence operators at the cutting edge level. Like all other government departments rest of the 50% human resources are utilised in questionable manner.

In India an intelligence operator is considered as an officer. He is not an agent in the sense the CIA uses the word. He is equated with his rank-counterparts in the state and central police forces. He is often treated as a clerk. This is a big fallacy. The government of India should look into this malady and may like to confer upon the intelligence operators certain non-police characteristics and frame special service rules for them, as is prevalent in case of personnel of the Armed Forces. There is need for a change in structural as well as functional philosophy. It is hoped that the modern leadership of the IB will start thinking beyond the concepts framed by the Empire and perpetuated by the mandarins in the post-independent governments.

I have never acted in any fashion to embarrass the intelligence Bureau and the excellent corps of officers and men it has produced over decades. I have mentioned a few names of IB officers only to make the story cogent and relevant and to bring clarity to the canvas. I have not made any conscious effort to hurt any individual and disclosed the vital areas of functioning of the IB, which very competently guards the security of the country-as far as pure security and intelligence matters are concerned. It is a different matter that the agencies like the IB are suborned to the political interests of the party in power and the Prime Ministers and Home Ministers. In spite of political abuse and misuse the IB has been admirably discharging its security and intelligence related charters of work. It can do better if it is freed from the clutches of the politicians.

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Other points that require clarification and clear understanding are the issues of CORRUPTION and CRIMINALISATION OF POLITICS/PUBLIC LIFE. Time and again hue and cry have been raised that Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi were corrupt. Scams and scandals are tossed up on frying pans as if rest of the national chefs are as clean as the white dhotis they wear. I am not an investigator and cannot produce evidences of personal corruption against any politician-be it Indira, Rajiv, Rao, Laloo Jadav and other ayarams-gayarams, and their bureaucratic collaborators.

According to my personal knowledge Indira Gandhi was not personally corrupt. I have seen Rajiv Gandhi from a close quarter. I strongly believe that he was not personally corrupt. His problem was that he was not the man of destiny to pilot a complex country like India. He believed in cheap gimmicks and he believed in bad advices offered by his ‘friends’ ‘coterie members’ and even his ‘intelligence chief.’ An intelligence chief cannot afford to be emotionally and ideologically identified with his main consumer. That situation generates severe intelligence fault lines. Rajiv Gandhi was trapped with such fault lines a number of times. I agree with an eminent journalist that while Sanjay’s backseat driving was a ‘reign of terror’, Rajiv’s cockpit piloting was a ‘reign of error.’

For rest of the politicians I have no comment to offer, except P.V. Narasimha Rao. It is unfortunate that India was saddled with a man who was transformed from a teacher to
toshakhana
(treasure chest) manager.

I breathe with the hope that Indian people will soon rediscover the meanings of ‘
satyameva jayate
’, national honesty and character. Sooner they do is better. Otherwise corruption, which oxidises the moral moorings of the nation, will sooner than later corrode away the national anchor-the Constitution-and throw the country back to the mercies of the looters and grabbers. The criminals have started making inroads into the mainstreams of national life. They sell and purchase at gunpoint. They also succumb easily to more powerful guns-the guns of the enemy of the nation.

Shall we trust them any longer?

I shall be happy if Open Secrets raise a national debate on the vital issue of making the intelligence and investigative agencies accountable to the elected Parliament under appropriate Act. After 57 years of independence a time has come to liberate the Intelligence and Investigation Establishments from the stranglehold of petty and visionless politicians.