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Rediff.com  » News » Advani demands probe by Supreme Court judge into Mitrokhin revelations

Advani demands probe by Supreme Court judge into Mitrokhin revelations

By By Sheela Bhatt and Onkar Singh in New Delhi
Last updated on: October 02, 2005 16:48 IST
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Lal Kishenchand Advani, president of the Bharatiya Janata Party, has asked Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to show some courage and rise above party politics and order a judicial probe by a Supreme Court judge into the allegations made in the book Mitrokhin Archives Vol II where it is claimed that four Union ministers and some political parties had been on the pay rolls of the KGB in the 1970's.

Advani addressed the media for the first time since the party convention in Chennai at the party headquarters in New Delhi on October 2 -- Gandhi Jayanti Day. Before the press conference, copies of the letter written jointly by former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Advani and former external affairs minister Jaswant Singh were released to media persons.

"The voluminous exposures, made in these KGB papers add up to an extremely disturbing scandal, calling for a comprehensive inquiry by a Supreme Court judge. Let the truth come out and if during the inestigations it is found that there was no basis for these allegations, then the government should encourage individuals to file defamation suits against the writer and publisher of the book who have sullied the image of India, giving the impression that India was on sale in the 1970s. The papers also claim that the KGB had even penetrated into the Intelligence Bureau and 10 officers of IB were on their payroll. Was this the kind of access they had to our administration system?" Advani asked.

"Ironically, it was in 1973 that the government of India introduced in Parliament The Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Bill 1973. The bill was referred to a Joint Select Committee and passed in 1976. I would appeal to the government to go into the allegations of foreign funding whether it is by the KGB, Central Intelligence Agency or even Inter-Services Intelligence of Pakistan. ISI has been sending in money to fund terrorist activities in India," he explained.

When asked about his promise to bring out a white paper on the activities of the ISI when the BJP was in power, and being pointed out to that this was not done, Advani said, "I was told by those handling this matter that if we came out with the white paper, it would hamper the arrest of modules of ISI in the country."

"There is a lot of difference between the situation then and now," he added.

Advani refused to take questions either regarding the party and its relationship with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh or even the questions relating to national importance like Jammu and Kashmir. "Today I am answering questions only relating to the allegations in the book," he said.

He promised to raise the issue in a big way in the forthcoming winter session of Parliament.

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By Sheela Bhatt and Onkar Singh in New Delhi