Can this System Secure the Lives and Property of the Indians?

The Indian Express’s attempt towards squeezing out an insight of the subtle turbulence experienced by the espionage agency of India, the Research and Analyses Wing (RAW) through a series has been quite appreciable, although it at times sounded like being packed hastily. If you ask me I would say that I really doubt if the news portal can substantiate at least some of its claims with solid supporting stuff. Nevertheless, I would definitely say as well that the report is still good enough to call on the sensibility of the Indian citizens to have a bold and suspicious retrospection.

V Sudarshan, the person behind the investigative account, has obviously given strong hints at certain attempts made (advertently or inadvertently) by some of the glorified bureaucrats of the country that were conspicuously virulent enough to emasculate the prestigious (?) agency. Today, we the people of India more than know the significance of the smooth and productive functioning of the state spy agency that had been for a considerable time in the past, nothing less than an enigma to them. All thanks to the media here for flashing some light on contexts such as that, which were shrouded by darkness until recently owing to some seemingly Stalinist, iron curtain policies followed – precedent set - by some of our former leaders.

The reporter deserves high appreciation for his listing the untoward events that happened in the vicinity of the espionage body, sequentially. Although his report was found to be particularly harsh on one person – M K Narayanan, the National Security Advisor – his revelation that even as Shashi Bhushan Tomar, who had been incidentally the last man to see the apostate joint secretary at RAW, Rabindra Singh that defected to the United States of America in 2004 - once it was discovered that he had been trafficking RAW secrets to the US – had expressed his suspicion that colleagues at RAW could have tipped off Singh that he was under the surveillance of RAW, a post-Rabindra Singh defection enquiry presided by the then RAW chief Hormese Tharakan had sort of helped every person escape unscathed.

It is also worth mentioning here that Sudarshan’s unveiling the fact that neither M K Narayanan was sacked following the Rajeev Gandhi assassination, nor any heads including that of the NSA rolled after the 26/11 carnage, has been remarkable as well. Today, as the country is hot on the heels of the likes of Headleys and Thahawur Ranas to get to the bottom of the 26/11 plot, is it not equally crucial to at least conduct a totally harmless probe into the whereabouts of people like A B Mathur, who could be taking over as the RAW chief in 2011, before the enthronement? Especially when Sudarshan has alleged that according to the people posted in Pakistan during Mathur’s tenure there, the latter had been awarded a free run in Islamabad, which was extraordinary.

Whatsoever, what the commoner in the country is concerned of, his as well as his people’s security. Once their lives come under serious threat, these people are sure to question even the most sacred (execrated?) in the country. They would definitely like to know where things went wrong in Mumbai, or in the umpteen incidences of blood and holocaust that took place in so many cities in the country. These happenings can be sidelined considered as aberrations that resulted from the incompetence of a body that the people of the country otherwise wish to boast of in every breath of theirs. Then what about events that are more serious?

One can certainly understand the failure of the country’s relevant agencies to have a presentiment on the Tsunami strike, on the grounds of lacking in technology. But can we play down with that levity, the mass insurgency that happened in and around Kargil, Drass and Tololing in the late 90s that culminated in the wasting of tens of thousands of priceless lives? Reckoning the fact that the military action (crafty politicians had been largely successful in contorting that and making ignoramuss like me to call it war. How could it be called a war when it was fought against no rival nation? How could it be so when the history of India itself says that the last war fought by India against Pakistan was in 1971?) that followed – to be honest to the core – was virtually marketed by the governments of either sides for designing their subsequent colossal successes at the cost of the lives of many valiant sons of the soil.

That one incidence had really shaken the sensitive ones left in the country to think that either they had a terribly mutilated international affairs surveillance agency or they had one spy agency that virtually held them for ransom. Let the report of Sudarshan emerge as an eye opener for the authorities (Congress's projected young brigade of the present evokes great expectations) to realize the poor beings in the country that are fearfully anticipating the next bout of terror strike, must be given a sense of security in their seriously intimidated minds, which can only be done with the help of some highly imaginative work performed meticulously by agencies such as RAW. And to achieve that in turn, it would definitely require a cautious approach from the part of the ruling side; at least to make sure that these agencies are run by doughty officials in place of allegedly saboteurs known for their derelictions and more….. ‘Turpitude’.