New Delhi
Yashwant Sinha is in news these days for different reasons. Former Finance Minister of India, a retired IAS officer and who also headed External Affairs Ministry for a while is now contesting presidential polls as the opposition candidate.
He moved from Janata Dal to SJP of Chandrashekhar to BJP and to Trinamool
and is now a presidential candidate.
His son Jayant Sinha is a BJP lawmaker and may not vote for him.
The mercurial former Babu has roots in Hazaribagh region in Jharkhand (erstwhile united Bihar) and was instrumental in bringing Manmohan Singh closer to the throne and politics when 'overestimated economist and underestimated politician' was made economic advisor to then PM Chandrashekhar.
Nagaland Congress chief K Therie has endorsed Sinha's candidature with his FB posting "Yashwant Sinha is a good choice".
But here the context is not presidential polls or Sinha's chequered politics.
As External Affairs Minister under Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Sinha had made a very crucial announcement on the floor of parliament on Dec 15, 2003 that, "We have been informed by the Royal Government of Bhutan that they have launched military action against Indian insurgent groups operating from camps in that country.
Prime Minister (Vajpayee) has conveyed to His Majesty the King that the Government and people of India stand firmly and solidly behind the Royal Government of Bhutan at this critical juncture".
Of course ground work for this started when Jaswant Singh was the foreign minister. The big picture take away is once these operations were carried out several militant organisations, and especially, ULFA lost its spinal cord and so-called 'lifeline'. In later periods, things became uncomfortable for ULFA in Bangladesh too and even chairman Arabinda Rajkhowa came forward for peace talks.
This brings us to the issue of foreign countries' involvement in India's insurgency story.
Well, Bhutan was hardly a principal player. The support to ULFA and other groups came actually from Pakistan and China and to an extent from Bangladesh through radical Islamist forces.
Beijing's involvement is well known. Most militant groups in northeast India - if not all - have enjoyed Chinese hospitality.
The Chinese interest in the northeast started way back in 1954. In 1967, they supported an armed uprising by the Naxalites and around the same time, Naga militants had reached Yunnan and Er-Kung camps.
These encouraged 'radical communists influence' in eastern India and the country is still paying a huge price continuously.
However, the so-called 'American influence' through CIA especially in Assam is not highlighted or debated much.
Even in Nagaland context, the Indian agencies claimed in the sixties that the 'American Baptists' were backing one set of trouble makers and the Chinese were preparing to support their chosen groups.
The church in Nagaland have always denied such allegations but a latent 'clash' between Christian values and Communist ideology has remained.
About the American influence in Assam, Marxist doyen P Ramamurti had written in his booklet 'Real Face of the Assam Agitation' (1979) that - "The CIA for long has been active ...Its agents were directed to study social tension and how to use them for the purpose of destabilising the situation".
History is also a living witness that author of the famous book 'A Spy for all Seasons: My Life in the CIA' - Duane Claridge had dedicated a chapter on his stint in India.
The clash of communists with the church existed even in the 1970s at a broader level and not necessarily in Nagaland alone.
CPI-M leader Ramamurti had written that - "Christian missions have well known and close links with the Mizo National Front (than a hardcore insurgent group)" and have been providing funds "in the name of educational and philanthropic activities from the USA".
A keen observer of things that Ramamurti was known for also had wondered whether a popular US magazine was just making a mistake when it printed a map showing Assam outside India.
Some of these 'American involvement' were confirmed by Indian agencies later in certain details. One Dr Lee Rose, an American national of Chinese origin, had reportedly floated the idea for a research project under University of California that 'Himalayan kingdoms of Nepal, Bhutan and Sikkim with Nepal as the nucleus could become a reality in conditions of extreme insurgency in northeast India'.
Obviously, such references were not purely or rather piously meant for academic studies.
ends
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