RAW opinions, not facts

In the last five years or so, some former intelligence officers, whether from the IB or RAW (R&AW, as the author prefers to call it) have written books about their careers. This has led to people to wonder why they do it.

There are many explanations, and all are well known. Suffice it say that almost all such books are unsatisfactory, for several reasons.

One is simply that these chaps can't write. Mr Raman, who retired from RAW (sorry, R&AW) in 1994, was "" and continues to be "" a top-class analyst. I am a great fan of his, and always read his offerings on the South Asia Analysis Group ( www.saag.org) website.

But, not to put too fine a point on it, this book is really not up to the high standards that Mr Raman has set for himself ... It lacks cogency, style and balance. It fails even as a paean to the founder of RAW (no, R&AW), R N Kao. Mr Raman's admirers deserved better. The book is a shade long on opinion "" much of which sounds, even if it is not, like prejudice "" and short on facts.

There is the usual recounting of events, meetings, differences of opinion and disagreements over policy. The traditional competitors of RAW "" Oops! R&AW "" the Foreign Service officers, the ministry of external affairs, and the IB are all blamed in the measure required from a long-suffering rival.

The MEA consists (most would agree with this assessment) of bums, buffoons and boozards. After all, at the height of the Bofors controversy, did not the Indian ambassador to Berne, against the advice of the author, invite Prakash Hinduja to a party which an Indian minister was to attend saying ministers only wanted a good time? Did not the minister recoil in horror and refuse to attend?

The IB can't be trusted to tell its backside from its head. After all, did it not ignore the warnings of German intelligence about the activities and possible intentions of the LTTE in Tamil Nadu in May 1991? Had it not been mucking up in Pakistan throughout the 1980s?

Even the Army is not much good. He talks about Operation Bluestar and says General Sundarji was over-confident. But he does, well, sort of, admit that there may "" just possibly, you know "" have been some gaps in intelligence because an agent was reporting to everyone and his uncle in Indian intelligence.

Politicians are not good, either. They are bad in varying degrees except after they have become prime minister when they become good. Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi were very good to, and about, RAW. So was Narasimha Rao, during whose prime ministership Mr Raman retired.

He says when he returned home that day, the first thing he did upon entering his house was to shout "bastards". I thought he was referring, as befits a retiring government official, to the government. But it turns out it was the American State Department that had earned his ire. The US he has always loved but the state department "" he could "spit and vomit". To find out why, you will have to read the book.

The publishers must take most of the blame for this book. Not only have they not bothered to edit it, they have also printed it "" gadzooks "" on art paper! Ever heard of such a thing? It is a wonder that Mr Raman has tolerated such unprofessional practice. The book therefore makes up in weight and price what it lacks in weightiness.

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The Kaoboys of R&AW Down Memory Lane

B Raman
Lancer
Rs 795; 294 pages