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Journalism of Courage
Days after former Reserve Bank of India (RBI) governor Raghuram Rajan joined the Bharat Jodo Yatra, former Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW) chief A S Dulat on Tuesday walked with senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi as his cross-country march resumed from Delhi.
In a sharp attack, the BJP questioned the move by the “controversial” Dulat. “No one ever accused Dulat of being committed either to his job or the country he was meant to serve, supped with secessionists and Pakistan’s deep state and has a monumental role in Kashmir fiasco,” BJP IT cell in-charge Amit Malviya tweeted.
Like Rajan, Dulat had received a personal invitation from Rahul to join the Yatra. The Congress leader wrote personal letters to several prominent personalities, calling them to participate in the march “designed to awaken the nation’s conscience to crippling inequality, brutal social polarisation and violent authoritarianism”.
Dulat, an IPS officer from the 1965 batch who served as Special Director in the Intelligence Bureau (IB), is regarded as one of India’s leading experts on Kashmir and served in Srinagar in the 1980s as an IB officer. Rahul will wrap up his Yatra by hoisting the Tricolour in Srinagar on January 30.
Though the BJP raised questions regarding Dulat’s tenure Tuesday, during the Atal Bihari Vajpayee PMO from 1999 to 2004, he had been its adviser on Kashmir. Dulat has even written a book titled ‘Kashmir: The Vajpayee Years’ based on that time.
Speaking to The Indian Express, Dulat said walking in the Yatra was a wonderful experience, “fantastic” and an “exceptional” exercise. He joined Rahul as the Yatra reached Shahdara and walked with him for an hour.
Welcoming the invite from “the young man”, Dulat said: “I thought let me go and check out what this is all about… something different, something exceptional that he is doing. My friend Sudheendra Kulkarni had walked with him in Haryana and sent me some photographs. That also encouraged me. Ultimately, when I got an invite, I thought let me go and check it out.”
Dulat said participating in the Yatra was “quite an experience” for him. “The people who turned out for him are not usual, not normal. There is something that attracts people, particularly the youth. The streets were absolutely chock-a-block. It was quite an experience. I thought it would be much simpler but…”
On joining a political event organised by a political party, he said: “I am not a politician. But is there any harm in somebody who has retired… it was 22-24 years ago… joining something that he thinks is good?… I think what this young man is doing is certainly something exceptional… incredible.”
Asked what attracted him more about the Yatra, the message or the sheer effort of the walk, Dulat said: “Everything… I don’t think anybody will ever do it again. Nobody has done it and I don’t think anybody is going to walk so many miles again.”
The former R&AW chief added: “This is not a fraud. The man is walking… He is promoting the idea of India.”
Asked whether the move meant he planned to join the Congress, Dulat laughed. “It is 30 years too late now… I am far too old for politics. If somebody is trying to say or suggest that I am joining the Congress, no, no… The Congress has been in power for so many years and we have served with the Congress. I know many more Congressmen than I do people in the BJP. That I worked with Atalji was an exception. He was an amazing human being. These are exceptional experiences.”
Congress national spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi underlined this. “Nice to see AS Dulat joining the #BharatJodoYatra , detractors must remember that he was one of Mr AB Vajpayee’s most trusted on the issue of Kashmir & now he sees RG as a better alternative,” Singhvi tweeted.
In his letter inviting Dulat to join the Yatra, among others, Rahul wrote: “We listen to anyone who wants to be heard. We offer no judgment or opinion. We walk to unite every Indian regardless of their gender, caste or religion because we know they are equal citizens. We walk to fight hatred and fear.”
