It’s the government that technically rules a country but the entire narrative about how the country is being administered is built by the establishment. Unlike the Government, the establishment is non-transient in nature. It consists of Bureaucrats, Media, eminent personalities from various walks of life, members of the civil societies and NGOs. India’s establishment is inherently liberal in nature. Nehru’s long rule after Independence and almost incessant Gandhi Family tenure in the country’s top office ensured that they have a strong system of people in place that can build and destroy narratives as and when they like. Narendra Modi has been the top target of the liberal establishment since his Chief Ministerial Days. Yogi Adityanath after winning the CM race in Uttar Pradesh became a top target too. Smriti Irani has been a favorite punching bag of the establishment too. But these are politicians and it is understandable that the establishment will have problems with them. But there is another man who has consistently featured on the hate list of the establishment. He is none other than India’s National Security Advisor Shri Ajit Doval.
Patriotism runs in Ajit Doval’s blood. His “Direct Action” style coupled with decades of experience in security research, analysis and espionage makes him a valuable resource for the Modi government. It is because of these very reasons that Ajit Doval is a trusted aide of PM Modi. Ever since he joined the NDA government as the National Security Adviser in 2014, the shift in the defence policy paradigms of India is remarkable to say the least.
Ajit Doval is the only IPS recipient of Kirti Chakra, he was instrumental in reducing the menace of Kashmiri terrorism in the 1990s by introducing the concept of counter terrorism in India. He was the chief architect of Surgical Strikes in Myanmar and Pakistan. There have been numerous hit jobs on Ajit Doval since 2014.
The Indian Express had recently reported that Ajit Doval had attended a meeting of the Bharatiya Janata Party and the RSS leaders to discuss the forthcoming elections in Tripura, Meghalaya and Nagaland. It was enough to bring the opposition parties in action. The CPI (M) asked the Election Commission of India to probe into why the National Security Advisor of India attended a Political meeting where poll strategies were being finalized.
“If correct, this is a shocking violation of norms and serious misconduct,” CPI went on to say in a statement.
To refute the so called ‘shocking’ allegations, the Union Home Ministry issued a clarification. The Home Ministry refuted the allegations of the CPI’s Tripura unit and made clear that National Security Advisor Ajit Doval was not present in any political meeting at the Home Minister Rajnath Singh’s house on January 14.
This is what the official statement from the ministry read:
“There is a well-established practice of Home Ministry holding regular morning meetings to review national security and public order. These meetings are attended by senior members of the internal security establishment.”
It was further stated that Doval along with a few other senior officials of the internal security establishment was a part of one such meeting on January 14 at Rajnath Singh’s house, but he “never” participated in any other meeting at Home Minister’s residence on that day”.
2018 is a big year for the North-Eastern states with Mizoram, Meghalaya and Tripura going to polls. Out of these three states, two (Mizoram and Meghalaya) are a part of the only 4 states in which the Congress is in power today as of 2017. Tripura is the last bastion of the CPI in the east as they find themselves thoroughly rejected by the electorate across the country (leaving the sole exception of Kerala in the south). Hence it is natural that these parties will do anything to retain these states, but to include the name of the national security advisor of the nation in order to score some political brownie points is shameful to say the least.