When a seasoned strategic intelligence expert observed that the recent accidental bomb blast in a non-descript district-town of Burdwan in the Indian state of West Bengal is the first stroke to set the sensitive border state on fire, it sounded a bit awkward. After all, why would anybody with a right mind want to ignite a state on whose stability hinges the very survival of the sensitive northeastern region as an integral part of the Indian Union?
But the gentleman, having years of first-hand experience in indoctrinating high-value human assets used for subversive activities across India’s frontiers had no doubt whatsoever that the Burdwan incident, which assumed an international proportion with alleged Bangladesh link, is part of a meticulous propaganda. And the Modi government is using it very effectively to kill three birds with one stone — fetter a powerful regional satrap like Mamata Banerjee, subtly coerce Dhaka into submission while simultaneously keeping Bangladesh’s Sheikh Hasina government in good humor. Indeed, India — like all other regionally powerful nations — has successfully waged covert war of intrigues to keep the smaller neighbors under her strategic ambit.
Not only this gentleman, who played a significant role in Indian intelligences’ deadly Sri Lanka mission, a distinguished intelligence officer like Moloy Dhar too conceded that the Indian intelligences’ foreign assets would more often than not find shelter in India for training and indoctrination. But then, what does India’s secret operations within Bangladesh has to do with this hoopla in neighboring Bengal? This, says the covert operation expert, is a dangerous ploy to exploit India’s strategic intelligence set-up politically for electoral gains. He raised some pertinent questions that have no clear-cut answer.
(1) Indian Premier Narendra Modi forewarned his Bangladeshi counterpart Sheikh Hasina about a US intelligence plot to install a unity government in Dhaka after toppling the current dispensation. Modi even told Hasina that Banerjee’s ruling party in West Bengal is a partner in this covert US operation. Neither Modi nor his national security adviser (NSA) Ajit Doval deemed it necessary to alert Chief Minister Mamata of such critical inputs. Is it not shocking that the premier of a sovereign nation has no inhibition in sharing classified intelligence information with a foreign leader and yet cannot trust the elected political executive of a provincial government?
(2) Intriguingly, the same Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) chairperson Khaleda Zia and her allies like Jamaat-e-Islami, that Modi apparently believes are behind the plan to destabilize Bangladesh, has extremely close ties with Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Zia wasted no time in greeting Modi for his anointment as premier even before the official announcement of the election results. Asaduzzaman Ripon, BNP’s international secretary, has gone on record saying his party sincerely wanted Modi to come to power. Besides, what was NSA Doval’s brief to a senior journalist-cum-BJP spokesperson, when he was quietly dispatched to Dhaka sometime ago for cultivating close ties with Zia and her allies, whom the Indian intelligence consider to be inimical to national security? Is it at all improbable for BNP to help BJP consolidate in Bengal by sending some radical volunteers, who doubles up as Indian intelligence assets in Bangladesh?
(3) The concerted political-cum-media propaganda against the Bengal government launched immediately after Burdwan blast, points to a larger design. Is it part of a counter-intelligence strategy aimed at neutralizing the US effort? If so, who masterminded it? Is it the Indian intelligence or the powerful neighbor — which does not want an American footprint in South Asia — actually holds the string from behind?
(4) What is the motive behind spreading the story of half-literate terror activists using explosives like Lead Azide? This volatile chemical, with strong brisance properties, can only be handled by professionals wearing flame retardant clothing and face protection equipment. Not many are aware that it is used as detonators in mortar and the production technique is part of the indoctrination curriculum of human assets (like Tamil guerrillas) receiving training in Indian facilities.
(5) No structural damage in the building allegedly used as a terror shelter reveals the absence of high-grade explosives. Handlers of such explosive devise follow a standard operating procedure. Was there a scuffle inside which led to the accidental blast?
(6) India’s border with Bangladesh is strictly manned by security agencies working under the directives of Modi government. Did the border outposts receive any unofficial communication from New Delhi to allow passage of certain undisclosed consignments without any scrutiny, apparently required for covert strategic intelligence operation? After all, such unofficial missives are not uncommon in security circles, as we have witnessed during the Sri Lanka mission in the 1980s when weapons and ammunitions were smuggled into northern Sri Lanka freely.
(7) Why is Banerjee being targeted so methodically? Is the Bengal opposition desperately trying to stall any impending foreign investment? If failing to intervene in a covert mission involving international networks is a crime, by the same logic Banerjee’s illustrious predecessor Jyoti Basu deserves flak for the Purulia arms drop incident — a joint operation of Indian and foreign secret services. Political executives in Modi’s Gujarat, Tripura and other border states too deserves retribution for allowing their territories to be used as a conduit for flow of human and other assets used for subversion in neighboring territories.
Surely, the above revealing queries suggests, there is something more to the turmoil in Bengal than what meets the eye.
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