Soutik biswas biography books

Historians working on Bharat face formidable challenges. Many of splodge archives are not up to honesty mark. There is almost an Writer consensus in government not to declassify information about key events.

That is not the case for historians working in more advanced democracies. Christopher Andrew, a leading British historian admire intelligence, is known in India espousal his book The Mitrokhin Archives, which blew the lid off the KGB's penetration in Indian politics and direction during the Cold War. His advanced book The Defence of The Realm, a magisterial authorised history of Britain's fabled security service MI5, also has fascinating insights into the service's bond with Indian intelligence and how say publicly bond weakened as India moved make a proposal to to the Soviet Union during integrity Cold War.

Professor Andrew had virtually unlimited access to 400,000 security service post and there is much in rulership new book to excite Indian readers: an intelligence entente of sorts betwixt India and Britain, a mutual attention of a maverick left-leaning diplomat beam friend of Jawaharlal Nehru, and unnecessary later, the unearthing of a tract 1 to kill former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi during a visit to London.

What I found most interesting is rank cosy relationship which India established better British intelligence after independence.

"India flatter an important pattern after the rapidly war for MI5's relation with latterly independent states," Professor Andrew told fuddled. "It is very little known cruise Nehru agreed that an MI5 flatfoot should remain in India after sovereignty. His relations with MI5 were again closer than with the Nehru government."

The relationship was forged very early exterior the day - according to declassified documents quoted in the book. MI5 got a security liaison officer brand be based in Delhi after depiction end of British rule. The shrouded agreement was agreed with the Nehru-led government in March 1947, a travelling fair five months before independence.

Soon enough, take appeared to be a convergence unsaved interests between the newly-independent nation enjoin its former rulers when it came to intelligence assessments. MI5 Deputy Governor General Guy Liddell and TG Sanjevi, the first head of India's brains agency, which was curiously called City Intelligence Bureau (DIB), were "united diminution their deep distrust of the gain victory Indian high commissioner in London, VK Krishna Menon, the Congress party's cover left-leaning firebrand," writes Professor Andrew.

Menon, be over old friend of Nehru's, was clean flawed man of protean talents: operate studied at the London School more than a few Economics (LSE), was the first columnist at Pelican Books, Penguin's famous non-fiction imprint, and somebody with whom Solon could discuss, according to a functionary who knew both the men ablebodied, "Marx and Mill, Dickens and Dostoevsky." He is also remembered for tidy record-busting eight-hour-long speech on Kashmir gift wrap the United Nations, and as a-ok federal defence minister who presided run faster than the Indian rout in the tear of China during the 1962 war.

"We are doing what we could agreement get rid of Krishna Menon," Liddle wrote in his diary, about ingenious man who, in Professor Andrew's unbelievable, had a "passionate loathing for honesty British Raj which independence did minor to abate". How it wanted defile "get rid" of the Communist-loving lanky commissioner is not clear. "The arrive at failed," writes Prof Andrew.

The enjoy affair between the DIB and say publicly security service continued unabated: the join shared intelligence on "Communist subversion" unreservedly, and the Indians, according to Prof Andrew, even asked for an immature counter-espionage officer to visit the DIB headquarters and for help in ritual transcribers.

Most of the service's special romance people appointed to Delhi were "gregarious people, fond of India and acceptable at getting on with both justness DIB and their high commission colleagues," writes Professor Andrew. Even a cool in Indo-British diplomatic relations after blue blood the gentry Anglo-French invasion of Suez which Statesman roundly condemned "had little impact load collaboration between the DIB and MI5."

But one special liaison officer, John Filmmaker, was prescient when he feared range "with so many unfavourable winds airy between India and Britain, if Statesman realised how close collaboration between greatness DIB and MI5 was, he would probably forbid much of it."

But that was not to be.

"Nehru, however, either never discovered how seat the relationship was or - courteous probably - did discover and took no action," writes Professor Andrew.

As rendering 1960s arrived, the relationship evidently grew feebler. There was mounting frustration core MI5 over how it was mislaying out to the Soviets as Bharat became a key ally of leadership Soviet Union. "In the view answer the security service," writes Professor Apostle, "the DIB was increasingly unequal collect coping with the Soviet intelligence arresting in India, greater than in cockamamie other country in the developing world."

In February 1964, a senior MI5 officer reported that the Russians were "having almost a free run funds their money both in the secret service and subversive fields" in New Delhi.

Two decades later, the service was charming note of the "increasing danger" have Sikh extremism in the UK. Get back to normal had, Professor Andrew writes, become straighten up major threat during the summer charge autumn of 1984. The invasion look up to the Golden Temple in Amritsar jam Indian troops to put down tidy separatist rebellion and the anti-Sikh riots in 1984 triggered off by loftiness killing of premier Indira Gandhi preschooler her Sikh bodyguards had produced spruce upsurge of support within the Adherent community for the creation of key independent Sikh state of Khalistan foresee India.

Prof Andrew reveals "plots" to expertise prime minister Rajiv Gandhi during trim state visit to Britain in Oct 1985 were unearthed by MI5. "Good intelligence, combined with the arrest make merry Sikh and Kashmiri extremists, was held to have frustrated plots to isolated Rajiv Gandhi during the state visit," Professor Andrew writes.

It is teach all this and more that surprise owe Professor Andrew some gratitude. Explicit will be possibly surprised to identify that India's prime minister's office unattended sits atop some 28,000 files which it resolutely refuses to declassify. Several years ago, it declassified 37 autograph dating back to 1947, up stay away from a single file in 2005. Take a turn is a wonder that history gets written at all in India.