New Delhi: The latest set of India-related cables released by whistle-blowing website WikiLeaks include some that have a potential to embarrass India's power elite.
A leaked cable released on March 15 discusses MK Narayanan's possibility of becoming the National Security Advisor (NSA) following JN Dixit's death. Narayanan, now Governor of West Bengal, was then the Acting NSA. The cable labelled "confidential", was cleared by the then US Ambassador to India David C Mulford.
The cable describes MK 'Mike' Narayanan as a long-time Gandhi family loyalist who is part of the traditional "coterie" around the Congress President Sonia Gandhi.
Narayanan along with Principal Secretary TKA Nair, the cable states, constitute a Keralite "mafia" in the Prime Minister's Office. "In a bureaucratic culture dominated by North Indian Hindi speakers, this Keralite lock on the PM's inner bureaucratic circle represents something of an anomaly, which could in the long term create new faultlines around the Prime Minister," the leaked document elaborates on the impact of the "Keralite mafia."
Full text of the leaked cable:
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25259: After Dixit, India ponders role of its NSA and who will get the job
Two questions now swirl around India's National Security Advisor position: will it lose its major role in the Indian foreign policy establishment, and who will land the job permanently?
