The ‘intelligent’ games nations play and what they imply
Former Soviet KGB archivist Vassily Mitrokhin has opened a small snuffbox and India should not be rocked by historical truths, though the myth of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi being a Soviet agent is a blatant lie. The India-Russia relationship cannot be gauged by the activities of the secret services. India’s relationship with the USSR was strategic in nature. The late Mrs Gandhi reinforced that relationship because of deteriorating relations with Pakistan and the US. Her relationship with the Soviet stalwarts was not one of spy and spymaster. It was a strategic relationship that stood the test of time. India had sought strategic and tactical help from the former USSR and Mrs Gandhi had fortified her political position with some assistance from the Communist Party aligned to the USSR.
There is nothing unusual about this game and the nation should not feel outraged, though there are reasons to tighten India’s security and counter-intelligence belts. Foreign intelligence agencies are supposed to operate in India to gather intelligence, modulate public opinion, create lobbies in political circles and the media and purloin its strategic secrets. In the same vein India is supposed to operate in its target countries. All the major countries having regional, strategic and economic interests in their respective target countries play this universal game.
The geo-strategic location of India, its importance in regional and international power politics and the ever increasing interest of the global players in its expanding economy attracts the attention of the major intelligence agencies namely, the British MI 6 and MI 5, the American Central Intelligence agency (CIA) (besides its five sister services), the erstwhile Soviet KGB and its military intelligence arm the GRU, the French Direction Generale de la Securite Extrieure (DGSE) and its military arm the Secretariat General de la Defense Nationale (SGDN), the German Bundesnachrictendienst (BND), the Chinese Guojia Anquan Bu (Guoanbu), the Pakistani Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate (ISI) and the Bangladeshi Directorate General Forces Intelligence (DGFI). These agencies continue to operate unceasingly in India.
During the Cold War era, the US and the former USSR dominated the intelligence plane that forms the fourth tier of relationship with India. The other three tiers being, strategic, diplomatic, economic and military. In fact, the CIA and the KGB operated with impunity and achieved greater penetration than any other foreign intelligence agency. Between 1960 and 1985, the KGB and the GRU achieved maximum penetration in India. The CIA and its sister services achieved ascendance after the Soviet Union’s collapse.
The USSR was the fountainhead of the international communist movement. The communist ideologues of yesteryear had assumed that like Islam, communism also had an ‘Ummah’, which transcended national boundaries. Exporting ideology along with material support was the universal policy of international communism. Even China supported certain groups in India and elsewhere.
The support rendered by the KGB to certain Indian communist leaders and party apparatuses was an integral part of the universal policy pursed by the Soviet Union. The Congress’ relationship with the USSR was more strategic while the communists’ relationship was ideological and for material support, as they received very minor success in building a strong mass base.
It is again a matter of history that the Soviet Union had materially supported most of its client countries and satellite ideological units like the ones in India. This global phenomenon emerging out of the COMINTERN (communist international) policy of the Soviet Union should not be seen through the narrow telescope of an intelligence agency. It should rather be viewed in the light of the historical development of the communist movement in India and the Congress’ historical strategic relationship with the Cold War adversary of the US.
The KGB had achieved unique success in penetrating the Indian political system, its security rings and vital spheres of defence and economic activities. The depth and extent of its penetration of the communist parties are well recorded by Indian intelligence agencies. Some segments of the Congress party were also targeted, as it was the main ruling party. The penetration into the lives of Indian public figures by the KGB, the CIA, the ISI, etc, is well recorded by Indian agencies. The honours list is long. Mitrokhin has simply unfolded a minor view of the gravely contaminated spectrum.
Revelations by the CIA and ISI would cause real tectonic tsunami, as their penetration is equally grave. Such shock treatments are necessary for the people to be sensitised to this phenomena of realpolitik.
Some political parties are trying to smear themselves with perfume of the Mitrokhin dirt. This is a futile exercise. The entire episode should be judged against the spectrum of the broader canvas of the Indo-USSR strategic relationship. Espionage is a sleepless and ceaseless operation. This trade continues incessantly despite the best smiling faces displayed by the top leaders in diplomatic conclaves.
What India requires is to strengthen its forward and counter-intelligence capabilities. In fact, India requires a National Intelligence Review Commission to arm its intelligence agencies with constitutional and legal protection, and to firm up their efficacy by providing them more resources and teeth.
