Advani demands white paper on Mitrokhin charges

Indicating to his party that all was well, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chief LK Advani, at his first press conference after the party's Chennai national executive meeting where he had indicated the intention to quit his post, here today asked the Left parties and the Congress to give the nation an explanation on the Mitrokhin papers.

The BJP chief demanded that the government come out with a "white paper" on sources of funding of political parties from abroad and set up an inquiry by a Supreme Court judge into the allegation contained in the records of a KGB official.

He released the text of a letter, written to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh a week ago, which made these points.

Criticising the "guilty silence" of the Congress and the Left parties, especially the CPI, Advani said the government should either conform or deny the embarrassing revelations in the Mitrokhin papers that had "besmirched" India's name and represented the "biggest scandal since independence".

Advani asked the Prime Minister to take the matter seriously and come out with all the information he had on the subject. He showered praise on Singh for accepting his party's culpability in the 1984 riots and acting against individuals. The BJP chief asked the Prime Minister to show similar integrity in the Mitrokhin papers case.

Flanked by party leaders Jaswant Singh, Rajnath Singh and Arun Jaitley, the BJP chief said the Supreme Court judge should investigate the truth in the statements recorded by the former Russian intelligence agency official's archival papers.

"We have written to the Prime Minister (in a letter) that names which have been mentioned in the Mitrokhin papers may be wrong or mistaken. Those against whom allegations have been made can file defamation cases," he said.

Advani warned that if the government did nothing this could be the central issue in the winter session of Parliament, beginning in November.

"We have taken this very seriously, especially since it was the Congress government that promulgated the draconian Foreign Contributions Regulations Act. This law made it an offence for journalists, public servants and others to accept even the hospitality of foreign countries, let alone money from them.

"And now we are told that millions of pound sterling were poured into newspapers, news agencies, and routed to political leaders to ensure Indian democracy followed a certain trajectory. This is unacceptable. It undermines India's democratic foundations. KGB's impact was felt in the PMO, defence ministry and in the Intelligence Bureau," Advani said.

He said while democracy was India's biggest strength now, there were reports that during the 1977 elections after the Emergency the KGB had "funded the elections of 21 non-communist leaders including four central ministers".

The Congress and the CPI were quick to respond. CPI national secretary D Raja said Advani "is crestfallen in his organisation and is trying to beat a dead horse, which is not going to gain anything".

The Congress called it a "belated reaction" from a "besieged leader" of a party, which was in "total disarray".