No mole in the bucket

Till the other day, Jaswant Singh was perceived to be a pucca, western oriented gentleman, an anachronism in the Hindutva-obsessed Sangh parivar, well-read if tending to be somewhat long winded. Within the space of a week or so, Singh’s suave image has turned into one of a man who makes wild allegations that he cannot substantiate, of being a loose talker and of leading the nation up the garden path. Not at all what one expects of someone who has held four top positions in the Indian government and continues to be an important public figure.

The story — getting close to being a farce — of the presence of an alleged mole in the Narasimha Rao government who was apparently leaking information to the Americans has waxed and waned in the public domain and is threatening to end as one more silly season story, with no one any wiser about the identity of this person.

Like the Scarlet Pimpernel, they seek him here, they seek him there, they seek him everywhere, but no burrowing creature has turned up. What we have instead seen is the spectacle of Singh changing his tune several times, going as far as to say that he has actually given the name of the agent to the Prime Minister. But with the Prime Minister challenging him in the Rajya Sabha for a name and not getting an answer, the mole story seems headed for an early demise.

So was all this a publicity ploy by Singh and his publishers to push up sales of his book A Call to Honour? Maybe, maybe not. For one thing, the mention of the mole is a small part of the book. Many more important subjects, including the infamous Kandahar episode and India’s dialogue with the US, in which Singh played a crucial part, would be of greater interest to readers of contemporary Indian political history.

But Singh has chosen to fan the flames of the mole controversy and this may well cost him his job as leader of the opposition in the Rajya Sabha. His baffling somersaults
on the subject and the emerging suspicion that the so-called ‘evidence’ may not stand up to scrutiny have severely dented his credibility.

What is troubling is that the question of India’s nuclear programme being allegedly compromised has been reduced to bazaar gossip. Singh has done a disservice to the nation and his own party by his handling of a sensitive matter. Not what officers and gentlemen would normally do.