What made you spill all the secrets of the IB after working there for over 40 years?
I wanted to highlight how these powerful tools of government—IB, cbi, raw and even the police—are being misused by successive political leaders. No other democratic country follows our system, with these agencies being accountable to no one except the home ministry and the prime minister, who is the ultimate consumer. Of course, countries like the US and the UK also misuse intelligence but not at this level; they are all overseen by a legislatory committee. I could have written a thesis but nobody would have read it.
How can you take the moral high ground now after having done all the dirty work that was required by your bosses, including tapping Maneka Gandhi’s phones and stealing a personal document from her ‘Surya’ office?
This is not dirty tricks, this is tradecraft. What I did for Indira Gandhi I did out of personal loyalty to her. Similarly, I was very close to the rss, I admit that. All the rest I did because it was part of my job and I had no choice. This is why I told these stories—to tell people that unless you restrain your politicians, they will do this. All of them are equally guilty of misusing intelligence agencies.
Apart from making the IB do their dirty work, how seriously does the government take your reports on internal security?
When it suits them, they take it seriously. When it isn’t politically expedient, they ignore it or send it back for revision.
What is the price you pay for such openness?
Of course you displease the Establishment—when you live in such a closed establishment, you become afraid of light. But it was because of two reasons that I felt compelled to write this book. The first was the ISRO spy case, when some Maldives nationals were caught for allegedly stealing our rocket technology to supply to Pakistan. I was very unhappy that when the investigation report went up to the government, several of my former colleagues were punished just because the report didn’t please Narasimha Rao. The second was the Kargil conflict—it was a huge failure on raw’s part and there was no inquiry into how this lapse could have occurred.
But the IB has also had some sensational failures such as the assassinations of Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi?
Yes, I admit we had our failures, but given how ill-equipped and under-funded our IB is, I think our track record is among the best in the world.
What is your next book about?
It’s called Fulcrum of Evil—Pakistan’s ISI Unmasked. It’s about the isi’s global operations, including India. It should be out by the end of this year, I think.
