Books: A Call to Honour

Author: Jaswant Singh

Price: Rs 555

Publisher: Rupa

The craft of espionage is an old one, from Matahari to Kim Philby, the legend of the enemy within runs parallel to the narrative of open hostility. India too has fallen prey to spies of other countries and claims on spying have been made more than once.

In September last year the publication of the Mitrokhin Archives, an account by a former KGB operative Vasili Mitrokhin about the organisation's activities raised a furore in India. It claimed that several leading politicians of India were on the payrolls of the KGB during the cold war years.

The latest in the spy scandals have surfaced after the publication of former foreign minister Jaswant Singh's book A Call to Honour. The book is an attempt by him to bring out an informal account of the build-up and the subsequent aftermath of India's nuclear tests, a key period in Indian diplomacy.

But can a former foreign minister take mofussil liberties while writing on such a sensitive issue. Had Jaswant Singh been just an ordinary man, the revelations about the mole in his book would not have attracted so much attention.

In the book India's former external Affairs Minister reveals about the existence of a mole in the then Prime Minister Narsimha Rao's Office.

On Page 125 he says,

In 1995, when I was in the Opposition...I was given a copy of a letter. This letter had been sent that very year to a US Senator...

Jaswant says this letter contained critical information about India's nuclear programme...

On Page 126 he claims the letter reveals about,

A super-secret meeting to be held in Bangalore to debate whether India should resume nuclear testing…

But it is the author's credentials as India's cabinet minister for over five years that have proved to be his achilles heel. Why did Jaswant wait for over 10 years before he revealed his mole conspiracy? That is one of the many questions being raised by his detractors.

While Jaswant does offer a brief explantion (in parenthesis) on page 127. But to the scruplous reader and I am sure of this book there are many, it appears to be a half-hearted attempt that leaves much to speculation.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has challenged Jaswant to reveal the name of the mole. So far Jaswant Singh has chosen to speak only in riddles. But his disclosures have only confirmed the worst fears of many analysts; that spying is on at the highest levels.

While no one can say what was Jaswant Singh thinking when he put the mole issue in his book. But one thing that is certain; with all these controversies surrounding A Call to Honour, Jaswant Singh and his publishers have managed to pull off the biggest publicity coup of this year.