The ISRO “spy” case – Some Personal reflections
- In Current Affairs
- 09:55 AM, Sep 18, 2018
- Ananth Natarajan
In September 2018, the Supreme Court of India held that Mr. Nambi Narayanan was the victim of a frame-up and ordered a token compensation of ₹ 50 lakhs to be paid to him the State of Kerala in recompense. This prompted me to write down some of my thoughts and recollections related to this issue, to which I had some direct exposure at an early stage of my life.
In November 1994, 24 years ago, the news broke that there was a major spy ring that had been busted at ISRO. The details seemed straight out of a B-grade Bond rip-off: a secret spy-ring, a “femme-fatale”, foreign intelligence agencies etc., all this seemed so exotic compared to the prosaic everyday life in the ISRO community.
For me and my brother who had been brought up in the space community associated with VSSC at Trivandrum this was news indeed. My father had spent 20 years at VSSC, starting right after graduating from IIT Kharagpur in 1969, taking voluntary retirement in 1990. His specialty was rocket propellants and this meant that he knew Mr. Nambi Narayanan quite well.
ISRO was moving along a plan that had been prepared well in advance under the aegis of D. Vikram Sarabhai and fostered by such eminent ISRO chairman’s as Dr. Brahm Prakash and Dr. Vikram Sarabhai. The Cryogenic Engine development was meant for the GSLV (Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle) class rocket that was being designed to loft communication satellites into geo-stationary orbit. The PSLV (Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle) being primarily for the launch of remote sensing satellites into polar orbit. This was critical to India’s capability to launch its own communication satellites instead of paying the European Space Agency for use of its Arianne rockets, a capability that would be cost-saving, fulfill a strategic need, and help India enter into the lucrative market for launching communication satellites that constitutes the largest share of the international launch market. A transfer of technology program for the engine which had been signed with Russia came apart due to pressure from the United States, and a follow-on program to manufacture these in India with Russian assistance was being headed by Mr. Nambi Narayanan
Mr. Nambi Narayanan was put through the excruciating experience of being arrested and tortured[i] by the Kerala Police[ii] along with D Sasikumaran, and two Maldivian ladies: Mariam Rashida and Fauzia Hassamn. As Chief Justice Misra wrote in his judgement in 2018, “despite all the glory of the past, he was compelled to face cynical abhorrence…”. The Cryogenic engine program came to a standstill.
The result: The Indian space program has been set back by 15-20 years. It is only now, after a long struggle to pick up the pieces and restart development, that GSLVs can fly commercial payloads with Indian cryogenic engines. Billions of dollars from dependency of foreign launch vehicles and the launch market have been foregone. A distinguished career has been ruined.
While the CBI had taken over the case from the police and filed a closure report in 1996, Mr. Nambi Narayanan’s health, his career and his personal net worth were left in tatters by the experience, the stigma and the legal costs. He embarked on the long journey to recover at least his sense of dignity and he has succeeded 24 long years after the event. However, his career, his lost year, and the cost to the nation can never be recovered.
Looking back at the allegations: the intangible, nebulous and vaporous allegations that do not make any sense upon a little reflection. What exactly was supposed to have been sold by this ring of spies. And of what benefit will this ben to any outside party? How exactly does one transfer Rocket engine technology contained in thousands of pages of documents and requiring large teams of experts hundreds of man-years to master? How do the poor Maldivian ladies who were in India for the treatment of one of their children fit the profile of bond-esque “femme-fatales”?
The high profile established corporate media completely failed in what should have been their task[iii] The only periodical that stood by was the Tamil magazine “Thuglak” whose editor was the incomparable “Cho” Ramaswamy who used a penetrating wit and satire to bring logic to the vacuous “issues” that pervades politics in Tamil Nadu. Mr. Nambi Narayanan had to mostly fight his own legal battles. There was little support even from ISRO, there were legal constraints, and for many in the scientific community who were far from the “elite” that is influential in India, the Indian middle-class values of staying away from possible trouble prevailed.
Contrast this with what happened after the recent arrest of a few individuals belonging to the over ground network of an extremist movement which seeks to overthrow the Indian Government and that has perpetrated very tangible crimes on a huge scale: tens of thousands of deaths, the deprivation of benefits to hundreds of millions. Dozens of high profile lawyers and prominent persons from the Indian Lutyens “elite” rushed to get them released. Something they accomplished the same day. Editorials immediately appeared in high profile corporate-media periodicals condemning the arrests.
A couple of the individuals most culpable in these events, R. B. Sreekumar then with the Intelligence Bureau (IB) , and AK Anthony, the former Congress CM of Kerala and later Defense Minister under the UPA government, were completely unrepentant. Their went on, with their career’s causing further damage in other areas. Mr. Anthony, for instance as Defense Minister, showed lack of leadership, initiative and even interest in closing the much-delayed MMRCA requirement for the Indian Airforce that has long been in dire need for new aircraft even years after an aircraft, the French Rafale, was actually chosen. He is now attempting to derail the deal that was finally reached by the efforts of the NDA government.
Reflecting on the length of this case: while this saga began at a very formative stage my life, it has now run through most it. My father has stayed friends with Mr. Nambi Narayanan and I distinctly remember meeting him and listening to these events from him when he visited us a couple of times right after his ordeal began. It has finally attained some sort of closure.
For a more detailed insight on the case, I recommend reading Mr. Nambi Narayanan’s own book listed below.
[i] Ready To Fire: How India and I Survived the ISRO Spy Case, Nambi Narayanan – 29 Mar 2018, https://www.amazon.in/Ready-Fire-India-Survived-ISRO/dp/9386826267/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1537219142&sr=1-1&refinements=p_27%3ANambi+Narayanan
[ii] ISRO Spy Case: The Torture Inflicted Upon Scientist Nambi Narayanan And Others by Madhu Purnima Kishwar - Sep 15, 2018, https://swarajyamag.com/politics/isro-spy-case-the-torture-inflicted-upon-scientist-nambi-narayanan-and-others
[iii] ‘The criminal here is the media’: Journalists recount how ISRO spy case was concocted, Sharanya Gopinathan, The News Minute, https://www.thenewsminute.com/article/criminal-here-media-journalists-recount-how-isro-spy-case-was-concocted-88419 Sunday, September 16, 2018
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