Former Director of Intelligence Bureau (IB) Ajit Doval has emerged as a frontrunner for one of the key slots in the security establishment of the Modi Government. Sources said the new dispensation “is looking at” Doval as new National Security Adviser (NSA) or a Minister of State for internal security if the Ministry of Home Affairs was to be bifurcated by the BJP Government at the Centre.
Former RAW chief Sanjeev Tripathi, UN envoy Hardeep Singh Puri, former foreign secretary Kanwal Sibal, and India’s Ambassador to the US S Jaishankar too are reported to be other contenders for the key posts in the security establishment that is expected be comprehensively restructured by the Modi dispensation.
Doval, however, categorically denied that any such issue figured during his one-hour meeting with Prime Minister-designate Narendra Modi at Gujarat Bhawan on Monday.
sked by The Pioneer whether he has been sounded on the issue, Doval said at 70 he was not angling for any job. The highly decorated IB official, however, went on to emphasise that whosoever be given the assignment should be a thorough professional who could handle the task without any fear or favour.
Doval was called by Narendra Modi Monday for the briefing at Gujarat Bhawan lasting about an hour. The Prime Minister-designate asked questions on a wide-range of internal and external security of the country. “Modi’s queries were detailed and in depth,” sources said.
The exchanges covered almost all the aspects of security including China, Pakistan, Kashmir, North-East, Bangladesh and other linkages.
Doval said there was no point taking the same beaten track while dealing with the challenges faced by the country on security issues. He also added that nothing more should be read in his meeting with the Prime Minster-designate. The former IB sleuth, however, said if any responsibility came his way he would carry it out in a way that helps country grow to its full glory and strength.
Doval said there was nothing unusual about the briefing as he has done that so in the case of previous Government also.
Former IB Director Arun Bhagat maintained that Doval would be a good choice for the NSA. “He would be a good choice, he has hundreds of contacts worldwide and is a thorough professional”. Asked whether he was also offered a job, Bhagat laughed saying “no way”.
When contacted former Indian High Commissioner to Pakistan Satish Chandra who was also Deputy-NSA during NDA said he was not looking for any job in the government.
Doval was the Director IB from 2004 to 2005, after he spent a decade at the head of its operations wing. He was the first police officer in India to be awarded Kirti Chakra. He retired from service on January 31, 2005, and in January 2009, he was chosen by the Government of Karnataka as its Security Adviser.
Known to be among the best Intelligence officers India has ever seen, Doval is an IPS officer from the 1968 batch of the Kerala cadre who was actively involved in the Mizo, Punjab, and Kashmir conflicts.
He had spent long periods of time incognito with the Mizo National Army in the Arakan in Burma and inside Chinese territory. Doval was understood to have moved inside the Harimandir Sahib in Amritsar, Punjab, in 1989 during Operation Black Thunder when security forces were charging in to flush out terrorists from there.
Doval was also India’s main negotiator with the hijackers of Indian Airlines flight IC-814 in Kandahar in 1999. Presently , he is the chairman of Vivekananda International Foundation, a security and diplomatic think-tank based in Chanakyapuri.