Is Rahul Gandhi carrying out ISI agenda? Attack on Rafale deal, SPG indicate so

A lot of space and time is being taken by the series of tweets in support of Rahul Gandhi and even designating him as the future Prime Minister by Rehman Malik, a prominent politician from Pakistan. Let me take readers down the memory lane.

Antecedents of Rehman Malik
Rehman Malik was the Minister of Interior of Pakistan when the 26/11 Mumbai attacks carnage occurred. It is also in the public domain that Indian internal security team from the Ministry of Home Affairs, including the Union Home Secretary were in Pakistan for the Home Secretary-level talks.

Originally, the talks were scheduled for one day - 25/11/2008. The team was to return to India in the afternoon of 26/11/2008. People who might have read my book, 'Hindu Terror: Insider Account of Ministry of Home Affairs', may recall how the Pakistani side deliberately left the agenda unfinished. In spite of adequate notice, Rehman Malik had scheduled the Indian delegation's call on him for the afternoon of 26/11/2008. This is courtesy which is deemed mandatory in the diplomatic protocol to call on the host nation's minster in charge.

In addition, I have also explained in my book how an officer sympathetic to their cause had been planted in the Indian delegation and by virtue of his job title was No 2 in the delegation. Some internal reports did say that Rehman Malik had received a call on 25/11/2008 from one of the authors of the attack to withhold the Indian delegation.

Offer of hospitality to the Indian delegation
Rehman Malik thereafter offered the Pakistani hospitality of taking the Indian delegation to Muree, the hill station not far from Islamabad. The gullible Indian official accepted this, as doing otherwise would have been deemed impolite.

Muree is a place where the communication system those days were next to nil, although I do not know what is the scene today. Hence, when the 26/11 carnage happened in Mumbai the Indian counter strategy was left to one Under Secretary dealing with counter terrorism and two Joint Secretaries of other divisions, who out of love for the nation joined on their own volition, for nearly 30 hours.

I have already explained in my book with vivid details how then Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil was unattached, to the extent of non-cooperative, in giving orders for more effective counter-measures based on locally available resources. This helped the terrorists to entrench themselves firmly in the Taj Hotel and Trident.

Rahul Gandhi's tweet on SPG
These are the antecedents of Rehman Malik. Now, his tweet on Rahul Gandhi were was preceded by a tweet from the Congress chief casting aspersions on the recruitment process for the Special Protection Group (SPG).

The former SPG Director General whom he had quoted in his tweet has come out and denied it. But more importantly, what is relevant here is this tweet has the potential of discrediting and demoralising the SPG. Mind you, SPG is an elite force that protects the Prime Minister of the country.

The plot to assassinate PM Modi
Now, I take you back to June 2018. The Maharashtra government had accessed and found out a plan to assassinate the current Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi. That conspiracy might be attributable to a Maoist plan. But it is indeed a fact that Maoists, separatists of J&K, insurgent groups of the Northeast (now mostly neutralised), and Pak/PoK-based terrorist groups are on the same page, and have a lot of cross funding between themselves to actualise many unholy tasks.

Previous assassination attempts on Narendra Modi
Incidentally, this is not the first time that political opponents have attempted to assassinate Narendra Modi. May I remind the readers that in 2004 Ishrat Jehan and her companions, who included two Pakistanis, had come with the same agenda and were killed in firing outside Ahmedabad.

While the assassination of Modi ji and discrediting and demoralising the elite force protecting the Prime Minister is exposed on the public domain now, another important point also is hogging the highlights these days. That is of the Rafale deal. 

Rafale deal
Let us get it right. The acquisition of the Rafale by the Indian Air Force will tilt the balance of power in favour of India in an overriding manner over all other nations in the region.

The Congress has been flagging this issue unnecessarily. They have challenged the price, the middlemen and everything associated with it.

On the price issue, I have already written about how any price revelation will give away the comparative strength of Indian defence capabilities. Hence, to bring it on public domain is the only agenda of ISI, which is being fought through its soft soldiers in opposition parties, disgruntled elements who were ex-politicians, and some friendly media.

But the biggest give away of ISI's involvement in flogging this issue got exposed when Pakistani ministers on social media seem to have been under instructions from their masters in the ISI.

Inferences on joining the dots
On balance of consideration, let my state my concerns. Let Pakistanis do whatever on their social media. We are not concerned. But Indian politicians to join in is not in nation's overall interest. Or have they compromised national interest for political spinoffs? Or else, the Congress and its president are furthering the ISI agenda, which includes the PM's assassination. Has Rahul Gandhi been compromised? Joining the dots leads you to this inference. But we do not know. The Nation begs an answer. 

(RVS Mani is a former Central government officer who shot to prominence as a whistleblower in 2009, when he alleged he had been forced to sign documents that fabricated a narrative of 'Saffron Terror'. His book, 'Hindu Terror: Insider Account of Ministry of Home Affairs', was released recently.)

(Disclaimer: The opinions expressed above are the personal views of the author and do not reflect the views of ZMCL.)