BJP TODAY
October 16--31, 2005 - Vol. 14, No. 20
Congress-Left
sold the nation
By Prashant Goyal
Today,
India carries the stigma of a nation that was put up for sale by its
own corrupt Government from 1950s till 1980s. The highest bidder appears
to have been KGB.
The Congress and CPI auctioned our honour under successive Congress Governments. They betrayed the people’s trust by selling Government secrets and compromised national security for money and power.
Did our heroic freedom fighters liberate the country to be sold back to foreigners?
When the truth was revealed in a book, Congress and its equally guilty ally, CPI, took cover behind a wall of weak lies and unconvincing denials.
| Role of Congress regime
from early 1950s to 1980s
• Daniel Patrick Moynihan, former US ambassador in Delhi, revealed at least 2 occasions when CIA had given money to Congress which had asked for it during elections against communists. Once the money was given to Indira Gandhi herself when she was a party official during Nehru’s tenure as PM. [Ref.81 – “A Dangerous place” by Moynihan p.41] • In Nehru’s Congress Government, KGB purchased the loyalty of Krishna Menon who was Nehru’s closest advisor and later became the Defence Minister of India. • In 1962, Krishna Menon ordered Russian MiG-21 planes for Indian Air Force instead of British aircraft. • In 1967 KGB paid Rs.7,33,000 election expenses of Krishna Menon and supported him till 1969 when he was elected in West Bengal • During 1967 elections, KGB funded campaigns of several agents and confidential contacts within Congress. The most senior KGB agent—codenamed ABAD—was an influential minister in the Government. • Yuri Andropov, who became the Russian President, personally turned down an offer from an Indian minister to provide information in return for $50,000, because KGB had already received those secrets from Indian Foreign and Defence Ministries. • KGB assisted Congress(R) when Indira won elections in 1971 • Indira Gandhi’s fundraiser Lalit Narayan Mishra also accepted money from Russians. Once a secret gift of 20 lakh rupees from Russia to Congress (R) was personally delivered after midnight by a senior KBG Officer Leonid Shebarshin • When Mishra was assassinated in 1975, his widow received Rs.70,000 from KGB in Delhi • During 1975, more than 1 crore Rubles was spent by KGB to support Indira and undermine her political opponents. • In the elections after Emergency, KGB helped Indira by mounting a major operation codenamed KASKAD. Nine Congress(R) candidates were KGB agents. • KGB Files identify by name, 21 non-communist politicians whose campaigns were funded by KGB. Four of them were ministers in Government. • A leading figure in Congress Forum for Socialist Action was recruited in 1971 as agent RERO by the KGB. He was paid upto 1 lakh rupees per year from 1971 to 1977 for selling political secrets and recruiting new agents. • By 1978, KGB Directorate K alone had over 30 active agents—ten of whom were Indian intelligence officers. Some of their codenames were— GOPAL (Chinese Department), PROTON (US Department), ZINGER (US Department), AVAR, KROT, SARDAR. [Ref. 53- Mitrokhin notes vol.4 ind., ch.1 p.5 and app.I, items 34 - 8, 42] • In his book ‘Spymaster’ on page 126, General Oleg Kalugin recalls that KGB was more successful than CIA in India because of ‘its skill in exploiting the corruption which became endemic under Indira Gandhi’s regime’. |
They are indifferent to reply to the disturbing questions raised about India’s security and integrity which was sold by them thirty years ago. They are ignoring the questions and anger of people of India, who deserve to know the truth.
Mitrokhin’s Book
Secrets revealed in Mitrokhin’s book about KGB Archives show how Congress and CPI betrayed India, secretly and frequently.
Details of all payments and events are recorded in confidential documents of Communist Russia’s Secret Agency—KGB. These documents are analysed in the book—Mitrokhin Archives Part 2, KGB and the World— written by the former senior KGB archivist Vasili Mitrokhin.
Credibility of Authors
Author Vasili Mitrokhin was a senior KGB archivist whose career spanned 36 years, from 1948 to 1984. He has written 3 books.
His co-author Christopher Andrew is a Professor of Modern History at Cambridge University. He holds an honourary doctorate from the Joint Military Intelligence College in Washington, DC. He is the author of 14 internationally acclaimed books apart from being the world’s leading intelligence scholar, and an expert on the Secret Services in Britain, USA and former Communist Russia.
Prominent American investigative agency FBI, declared Mitrokhin’s Archive as ‘the most complete and extensive intelligence ever received from any source’. CIA has certified it as ‘the biggest counter-intelligence bonanza of the post-war period’.
In Britain, an interdepartmental working group of British Government, verified both books by Mitrokhin before clearance for publication received ministerial approval. After publication of ‘Mitrokhin Archive Part 1’ in 1999, the Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC) of Britain held a detailed enquiry at the Cabinet Office to examine both authors, Andrew and Mitrokhin.
A
top KGB officer, Vyacheslav Ivanovich Trubnikov, in the Russian
foreign intelligence since 1967, was posted in New Delhi KGB
Residency during 1970s under Indira’s Regime. In 1996, he became
Director of Foreign Intelligence Service and currently holds
the military rank of a General of the Russian Army. When Sonia’s
Congress Government was formed in 2004, he was immediately sent
to Delhi within 2 months as the Russian Ambassador Extraordinary,
to ‘upgrade strategic partnership’. |
Recent
DevelopmentAfter careful examination and verification, ISC officially appreciated Mitrokhin’s achievement in bringing KGB’s secret documents to UK at great risk to his life. They were aware that he did this only to reveal the true nature of Communism.
Guilt of Congress and CPI
In spite of all the evidence published openly, these partners-in-crime have neither accepted their guilt, nor apologised to the public.
Details of Money Given to CPI by the KGB • CPI leadership knew that KGB was giving money to Indira Gandhi and her party Congress(R). They even complained about it to KGB • In 1959, the CPI General Secretary Ajoy Ghosh entered into a secret agreement with KGB to start an import-export business with Russia. This business was headed by a senior CPI member and the profits were ‘creamed off for CPI party funds’. • In a few years, the annual profits crossed 30 lakh rupees and by 1972, CPI had received more than One Crore rupees. • Russians also gave money to CPI through the Soviet News Agency ‘Novosti’. They regularly paid the CPI publishing house, fees for services, at rates which were 50 percent higher than normal. • Secret funds of more than 15 lakh rupees were given to state communist parties, individuals and media associated with CPI. • In 1967, KGB paid election expenses of CPI and other communist groups • In 1977, CPI was rewarded for following instructions by increasing amounts of Russian funds given for CPI election campaign. • Substantial funds were also given to All-Indian Congress of Trade Unions (AICTU), headed by S.A.Dange, Chairman of CPI. In 1977 it received 10,000 Swiss Francs and 43,750 US dollars. • The CPI General Secretary from 1964-1990 Rajeshwar Rao, would provide receipts for the money received. Details of some of the money given to CPI by KGB are given below –
|
If Congress and CPI are innocent, then all information in this book must be false. In such a case, they have a duty to restore India’s honour by filing a case against the authors and publishers of ‘Mitrokhin Archives’.
Facts in this book challenge the stability of our country because both guilty parties have once again formed a Government at the Centre.
While the guilty Congress and CPI are using their powers to crush this issue with media’s help, Bhartiya Janata Party has been generating awareness among the public. People have a right to know the truth, and BJP will ensure that this right is honoured.
Action taken by BJP
The people’s opinion was voiced by Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Shri L.K.Advani and Shri Jaswant Singh, in a joint letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on September 23, 2005.
In this letter, they expressed concern about the serious damage to our nation’s good name and urged the PM to rebut strongly if these allegations were false. They also requested the PM to initiate a public inquiry for clearing up this matter.
Strangely, the PM did not bother to reply. Apparently he is too busy to worry about India’s dignity.
After waiting in vain for ten days, Shri L.K.Advani decided to inform the people by issuing a Statement in a Press Conference on October 2, 2005, and releasing that letter to media. He also demanded that Government bring out a white paper.
Simultaneously, BJP also initiated a nationwide campaign— Jawab do Saptah— for demanding the truth from Congress. This campaign went on from September 25 till October 2, birth anniversary of that selfless upholder of truth—Mahatma Gandhi.
Congress Response
Ironically, Congress party, which claims to follow Gandhiji’s path, is hiding the truth. It has not yet made an honest effort to face these serious charges. At the same time, Congress leaders are evading this issue—as usual—by making defamatory statements against senior BJP leaders, and planting false stories in the media.
Media Circus
One such ridiculous story is by Bibhuti Bhusan Nandy, a retired Additional Secretary, RAW. He claims that KGB met Jan Sangh leaders at a popular pastry shop, located right in middle of the busiest market of Delhi.
Embarrassed by his own story, even Nandy admits the truth that “CPI... acted as a force-multiplier for the KGB... to penetrate the Indian State and Society”.
He continues, “As for payments to Congress and CPI leaders, it was widely known among knowledgeable people... who received how much from KGB and for what purpose.”
Finally, Nandy openly accepts that Mitrokhin’s book “...about the recipients of KGB money barely constitutes the proverbial tip of the iceberg. If IB archives were ever thrown open, the real magnitude of KGB expenditure on agent building and agent running in India would be known”.
Now Congress was confused. It couldn’t decide whether to celebrate Nandy’s silly remark about Jan Sangh and KGB eating pastries in a shop, or to attack his comments about corruption of Congress and CPI.
Finally, Minister of State for Home Shriprakash Jaiswal dismissed Nandy by saying, “After retirement, junior officers have nothing to do. If they were serious about these issues, they would have disclosed everything during their service. The tradition of making such charges after retirement is not good”.
We
think that the Congress tradition of lies and betrayal is not good
for our nation.
Silence Means Consent
It is one of the oldest adages of Law. In this case, silence of Congress has confirmed people’s suspicions about its guilt
In fact, Congress is simply following the shining example set by Mrs.Indira Gandhi. In June 1983, she had sent a secret letter to Russian President Yuri Andropov, complaining against CPI. When this letter was leaked by CPI member Yogendra Sharma, the people of India demanded an answer, but Indira Gandhi kept quiet till the matter was forgotten.
Many such revelations are also made in Mitrokhin’s book, and we will examine some of them.
Secrets Revealed
Congress always painted a rosy picture of an excellent friendship between two powerful countries. We always assumed that during Cold War, Communist Russia treated us as an equal partner.
However, this illusion has been shattered by this book. Now we know that India was used as a base for extensive KGB activities.
Role of Indian Press • By 1973, KGB controlled 10 Indian newspapers, 4 magazines and a Press Agency codenamed TREST. They cannot be identified publicly by the author for legal reasons, but are identified by name in a KGB file of 1976. [65-vol.4 ind., ch.4 pp.16-17] • A gift of Rs.10 lakh was given to a newspaper which supported Indira Gandhi, on the same day when Indira was paid Rs.20 lakh by KGB Officer Leonid Shebarshin. • Senior journalists were used by KGB to manipulate the Press and ensure that Indira Gandhi stayed committed to Communist ideology. One such influential journalist continued as a KGB agent till 1980, and is identified by the codename NOK • A partial list of articles planted by KGB in Indian newspapers under Indira’s Regime is given below –
(*The number of biased articles declined under Janata Rule after Emergency ended) |
In 1973 Oleg Kalugin became the youngest General in First Chief Directorate (FCD) of KGB. He remembers India as ‘a target of prestige and a model of KGB infiltration of a Third World Government. He states, ‘KGB was more successful than CIA in India because of its skill in exploiting the corruption which became endemic under Indira Gandhi’s regime’.
‘The openness of India’s democracy, combined with the streak of corruption which ran through its media and political system provided numerous opportunities for Soviet Intelligence’.
Kalugin recalls, ‘It seemed like the entire country was for sale; the KGB – and the CIA – had deeply penetrated the Indian Government’.
In addition to what Kalugin termed as ‘scores of sources throughout the Indian Government–in Intelligence, Counter Intelligence, Defence and Foreign Ministries, and the Police’, successful penetrations of Indian embassies assisted the decryption of substantial amounts of Indian Diplomatic Traffic.
It has revealed that from 1950 to 1957, a number of Indian diplomats in Moscow became KGB agents and were given monthly amounts of up to Rs.4,000 for selling secret information from the Indian Embassy.
Effect on Domestic Politics
In India, KGB had already bought the loyalty of Nehru’s closest advisor Krishna Menon. When he became the Defence Minister, Menon’s open preference for Russian planes was found suspicious even by the British High Commissioner, who reported it to London.
It is also revealed that at least one of Menon’s committed disciples received substantial KGB funding.
Parmeshwar Narain Haksar was the most prominent communist disciple of Menon. He was Indira Gandhi’s Secretary and closest advisor for a number of years and is also guilty of perverting the impartial character of Indian bureaucracy by giving it a communist bias. He was also responsible for Indira’s shift to leftist policies and open interference in India’s investigative agencies.
Even senior Congress leaders like Kamaraj and Morarji Desai suspected Indira of using Haksar as a direct link with Moscow and Russian Embassy. When they finally dismissed her from Congress, she formed her own party–Congress(R).
Growing Russian Presence
In 1970s, KGB presence in India became largest in the world because Indira did not put any limit on the number of Russian diplomats and officials. Even KGB officials expelled by other countries were allowed to stay.
Under Indira’s helpful regime KGB secret operations expanded so rapidly that they had to create a new department in 1974—named ‘Seventeenth Department’—to deal with India.
Growing Corruption
As KGB continued to exploit corruption under Indira’s regime, funds being given to her kept increasing.
Inder Malhotra has noted in his book on Indira Gandhi that, compared with the amassing of wealth by some of Indira’s close associates, misdeeds of previous Congress leaders appeared trivial. Suitcases full of banknotes were routinely taken to PM’s house. Former Congressman S.K.Patil is reported to have said that Mrs.Gandhi did not even return the suitcases.
Indira Gandhi’s fundraiser Lalit Narayan Mishra also accepted money from Russians. Once a secret gift of Rs.20 lakh from Politburo in Moscow to Congress (R) was personally delivered after midnight by a senior KBG Officer Leonid Shebarshin. She depended on the money Mishra collected from a variety of sources to finance Congress (R). So did her reckless son.
Impact on Internal Situation
Dependence of Congress on KGB funds during elections has been revealed quite clearly in this book. The details are given separately.
It is worth noting that Indira’s Government was used as an instrument to establish a communist agenda in India’s domestic policies.
A number of Indo-Soviet friendship societies were set up which gave communists public platforms to spread their propaganda and recruit agents for KGB. A leading figure in Congress Forum for Socialist Action was recruited in 1971 as agent RERO by KGB. He was paid upto 1 lakh per year from 1971 to 1977 for selling political secrets and recruiting new agents.
KGB’s mission of misinformation was carried on even in case of disturbances in Punjab. False information against USA was often supplied through an agent codenamed S who had direct access to Indira Gandhi. This agent was in contact with KGB officer Aleksandr Iosifovich Lysenko codenamed BOGDAN.
KGB influence penetrated even deeper. When Indira Gandhi sent troops inside Golden Temple, she firmly believed KGB information that CIA was supporting Sikh separatist movement.
The Emergency of 1975
When Allahabad High Court passed judgement against her in June 1975, Indira believed that this too was a part of a larger American conspiracy and she declared a State of Emergency on June 26, 1975. The KGB office in Delhi, headed by Leonid Shebarshin, claimed credit for using its agents to influence Indira Gandhi in favour of declaring Emergency. CPI Central Executive committee which was receiving funds from KGB too, actively supported Indira for declaring the Emergency, and taking action against revolutionary forces of JP. Both these parties were supported by KGB through articles planted in the Indian Press.
When Emergency ended and Indira started preparing for elections, KGB helped her by mounting a major operation codenamed KASKAD. This involved 120 meeting with agents during campaigning. Details of KGB funds given to Congressmen for elections is given separately.
Indira signed a Treaty secretly
So strong was Russian influence on Indira, that she signed a Treaty of cooperation with Russia in August 1971 without informing the country.
This is also admitted by Former Permanent Secretary at the Indian Foreign Office T.N.Kaul in his book ‘Reminiscences’. He writes that it was ‘one of the few closely guarded secret negotiations that India has ever conducted...hardly half a dozen people were aware of it... the media got no scent of it’.
Influence on Foreign Policy
Jawaharlal Nehru started the tradition of moulding India’s foreign policy to suit Russian interests.
In 1956, Nehru kept silent on the brutal Russian suppression of the Hungarian Uprising. In fact, India voted against a UN Resolution calling for withdrawal of Russian army and holding free elections in Hungary.
KGB’s greatest success was the misinformation campaign against USA. Their stories influenced Indians through a corrupt media and created an environment of mistrust against USA and in favour of Russia.
More dangerous than this was the KGB hold over Indira Gandhi’s mind. She believed them so blindly that she even used International Forums to serve their interests. She often blamed America publicly, even for mistakes of her own administration, such as 1974 riots of Gujarat when over a 100 people died.
Before her talks with Henry Kissinger in 1974, KGB gave her false information about America’s secret activities in India. She believed this data without verifying it and eventually raised the issue with Kissinger during the talks.
Indira Gandhi even sent false documents forged by KGB to Sri Lankan PM Bandaranaike about CIA activities in Sri Lanka. Bandaranaike believed Indira and eventually set up a committee of investigation.
Due to India’s initiative, NAM increasingly voted in Russia’s favour instead of adopting the impartial stand for which it was formed.
When she was elected as the Chairperson of NAM, she used that international forum to attack USA frequently, instead of criticising Russian invasion of Afghanistan, which is a close neighbour. In fact, after the Seventh summit of NAM in March 1983, her communiqué condemned America 15 times!
Russians were delighted and the official mouthpiece of Russian politburo—Pravda—showered praise on her devotion.
This dangerous Russian power over Nehru dynasty continued with Rajiv Gandhi. In July 1983, on a visit Moscow, he was easily convinced by them that CIA was involved in subversive activities in Punjab. Like his mother, Rajiv did not bother to verify the truth and on returning to India, immediately declared publicly that there was ‘definite interference from USA in the Punjab situation’.
The final embarrassment came in August 1991, when hard-line communists in Russia tried to overthrow democratic Gorbachev. Congress PM Narasimha Rao, did not support him and instead declared that “this should serve as a warning to those who attempted change too rapidly”.
When Gorbachev survived to establish democracy in Russia and destroy communism forever, he rang all world leaders personally, but did not contact the Indian PM Narasimha Rao.
After 50 years of misguided international and domestic policies, Congress finally made India completely irrelevant in the New World Order.
America
did not consider us an ally and Democratic Russia did not find us
a reliable friend.
Role of CPI
CPI leadership always knew that KGB was giving money to Indira Gandhi and her party Congress(R). They even complained about it to Moscow. However, they did not mind taking KGB money themselves.
In 1959, CPI General Secretary Ajoy Ghosh entered into a secret agreement with KGB Office in Delhi to start an import-export business with Russia. This business was headed by a senior party member so that its profits could be “creamed off for CPI party funds”.
Transfer of funds took place when KGB officers visited the office of a senior member of CPI National Council, or, through payments made to CPI publishing house
The member of CPI National Council chosen to receive money from KGB was given the codename BANKIR. When that member was changed in 1975-76, the codename BANKIR was retained by KGB for the new agent.
After receiving money, CPI General Secretary from 1964-1990 Rajeshwar Rao, subsequently provided receipts for the sums received. After all, with so much money flowing in, keeping accounts was important!
Like Indira’s Congress, CPI was rewarded for following instructions by increasing Russian funds for CPI election campaign to nearly 30 lakh rupees in the beginning of 1977.
CPI has never lagged behind Congress in accepting foreign funds, that is why both of them form an unholy alliance so frequently and easily.
India’s Free Press
Credibility of the so-called “Free” Press of India has also suffered a major blow following Mitrokhin’s revelations.
KGB files contain several detailed references to money being paid secretly to media for publishing articles praising Russia, condemning USA and more importantly, actively supporting Indira’s corrupt Congress and CPI politicians who were KGB agents.
By 1973, Russians controlled 10 newspapers, 4 magazines and a Press Agency codenamed TREST. One can only assume that most of these have grown into large influential media houses today, due to patronage of KGB and similar foreign agencies.
Under Indira’s regime, KGB managed to plant up to 5,510 articles in press. But when Janata Party came to power after Emergency, this number fell to only 411. This fact speaks volumes of the collusion between KGB, Congress and a pliant media.
The book clearly states that in other countries KGB was not able to plant even one percent of the articles planted in India!
Maybe
some of today’s media barons feel proud for this unprecedented success
of KGB.
BJP’s Stand
Bhartiya Janata Party is firm in its demand for a fair, public enquiry to reveal the truth. BJP expects a proper response from Prime Minister Shri Manmohan Singh to the Joint letter dated September 23, 2005.
Apart from that, Shri L.K.Advani’s Statement of October 2, demands that Congress-led UPA Government bring out a White Paper in a given time-frame, which should not be confined to only KGB activities, but also cover all foreign sources, including CIA & ISI.
This will identify those culprits who sold national secrets, fix responsibility on them, and lead to their punishment. Undertaking such an investigation today, would also uncover all such external forces which may be influencing Indian politics and society through corrupt ministers and Government officials.
We wish to avoid the prospect of another book being published thirty years later, revealing how members and allies of the present Government are engaged in selling our country at all levels. We must take corrective steps immediately to discover these traitors and put an end to this shameful tradition of betrayal.
If we allow India’s honour to be tarnished again, all of us will be held responsible, and not just the traitors who sell it.