Author:
Publication: The Indian Express
Date: October 7, 2005
URL: http://www.indianexpress.com/archive_full_story.php?content_id=79543
Introduction: JP was categorical about the
role of the Soviet Union and its agents. He has made candid entries about
it in his Prison Diary: 'Quite a number of Congressmen are disguised communists.
They have always been enemies of democracy. Behind them is the CPI and behind
it is Soviet Russia. Russia has backed Mrs Gandhi to the hilt.'
Demands for a judicial inquiry, a white paper
and a debate in Parliament in the wake of revelations in the The Mitrokhin
Archive II haves set the BJP cat among the Congress and CPI pigeons. These
are valid and sound demands because at stake is not just the honour of the
nation, but also the frightening impact of political corruption.
''Soviet intelligence set out to exploit the
corruption that became endemic under Indira Gandhi's regime,'' says the Mitrokhin
Archive. Oleg Kalugin, who became head of foreign counter-intelligence in
1973, goes a step further and states: ''It seemed like the entire country
was for sale.''
The KGB also claimed credit for using its
agents of influence to persuade Indira Gandhi to declare the Emergency. This
is the most serious of all revelations, wherein India's democracy was allegedly
sold for a few ''trunk loads'' of currency notes!
The response of the Congress and the CPI has
been typical. To the Congress, the BJP demands are ''belated reaction from
a besieged leader of a party in total disarray and the allegations leveled
by the former KGB officer lacked credibility''. The CPI sings in tune: ''The
BJP is trying to beat a dead horse.''
The issue neither lacks credibility nor is
a dead horse. The fact of the matter is ''endemic corruption'' was indeed
consummated in the declaration of the Emergency.
In the context of the KGB revelations, Indira
Gandhi's obiter dictum that ''corruption was an universal phenomenon' acquires
altogether new meaning. Even democracy could be purchased through hard cash
and converted into dictatorship! Jayaprakash Narayan or ''JP'', who emerged
as the central figure of Indian politics in the 1970s, made the difference
between dictatorship and democracy. Being the ''Enemy No. 1 of the State''
during the Emergency, JP's views and perceptions have a halo of truth and
sincerity. And I had the privilege of sharing these with him as his ''custodian''
in Chandigarh's ''Emergency jail''.
JP was categorical about the role of the Soviet
Union and its agents in leading Indira Gandhi down the path of dictatorship.
He has made candid entries about it in his Prison Diary: ''Quite a number
of Congressmen are disguised communists. They have always been enemies of
democracy. Behind them is the CPI and behind it is Soviet Russia. Russia has
backed Mrs Gandhi to the hilt. Because the farther Mrs Gandhi advances on
her present course, the more powerful an influence will Russia have over this
country.
''A time may come when, having squeezed the
juice out of Mrs Gandhi, the Russians through the CPI and their Trojan horses
within the Congress will dump her on the garbage heap of history and install
in her place their own man.''
JP was sure ''Indiraji'', the disguised communists
in her party, the CPI and behind-the-scene Soviet agents (the KGB) must have
prepared a detailed plan for substituting a totalitarian system for the democratic
one that we had until June 25, 1975.
Their goal could be reached through ''social
democracy'' and then naked communist party rule under carefully disguised
Russian tutelage.
ACCORDING to JP's understanding, ''There must
be two plans instead of one. One to which Indiraji is privy and is made to
believe that it is her plan. In this plan Indiraji is always on the top till
death intervenes. The other plan is a Soviet plan, not known to Mrs Gandhi,
which was to take effect at the point of transition from social democracy
to undisguised communist dictatorship. Many heads were then to roll, though
in the social democratic period too head-rolling would not be such an outlandish
matter.''
JP was genuinely concerned about Indira Gandhi's
efforts to bring in social democracy. He said this was the exact jargon used
for the state of affairs in Hungary, Poland and so on just before the imposition
of Russian hegemony.
What they may be planning for India could
be: ''First 'social democracy' and then naked communist party rule under carefully
disguised Russian tutelage.''
JP had always suspected some understanding
between the US and Russia over India. In one of our conversations he had told
me: ''It is possible that they might have bargained over India and US had
agreed to Russia holding hegemony over India as a part of international politics.
In the event it was quite possible that the KGB and CIA were playing friendly
games.''
In the context of the Bangladesh massacre
on August 15, 1975, JP had noted in his diary: ''The CIA and the KGB are both
powerful and active everywhere in the world. In India the KGB seems to be
doing better.''
THE core of the ''JP Movement'' was the fight
against corruption and the drift towards dictatorship. His movement mobilised
the people against the Emergency and defeated it, and thereby prevented Indira
Gandhi from perpetuating as India's first dictator, as the Russians had planned.
But the ''endemic corruption'' that continues
to diminish and destroy the nation could not be eliminated.
If India's leadership is true to its salt
and is sincere about its pronouncements to combat corruption, the Mitrokhin
revelations should be thoroughly investigated and the truth laid bare for
all to see. Satyameva Jayate.
