The spy whom Jaswant left in the cold

When out of power, politicians who have tasted governance do strange things.

What could be more scary than a cockroach in the kitchen? Why, a mole in the PMO, of course. In his memoirs, A Call To Honour (sic), Jaswant Singh in his gravel-voiced best, states that there was an “American mole” during P.V. Narasimha Rao’s prime ministership who leaked India’s nuclear secrets. Like a bad whodunit — or a good whodunit waiting for a sequel — Mr Singh’s fails to mention who that spook is.

HT Image

When out of power, politicians who have tasted governance do strange things. In the former foreign minister’s case, he comes out with a book not exactly helpful for the BJP at a time when his party — last heard, it was still the BJP — needs anything but a 400-plus-page book of political psychobabble that can only embarrass it. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, like any book reviewer worth his salt, has reacted by asking the author to not feel shy and have the “decency and courage” to name the person accused of being a mole. Considering that the author mentions that India is “still being snooped”, one would imagine that Jaswant Singh could do the nation a service by outing the secret agent that threatens us all.

But then, he might have taken a leaf out of mathematician Pierre de Fermat’s book. Monsieur Fermat, stating that he had proved a particularly vexing mathematical theorem, goes on to say that it was “too large to fit in the margin”. Mr Singh, nice one. But till you name the name, we’ll stick to Le Carré, thanks.