Former Union Minister P. Chidambaram on Monday said former National Security Advisor (NSA) M.K. Narayanan has drawn ‘damning conclusions’ about the violent face-off between Chinese and Indian troops at Galwan Valley, terming it the result of a failure to analyse intelligence, and asked what is the government’s answer to Mr. Narayanan.
Referring to Mr. Narayan’s opinion piece in The Hindu , the Congress leader on Twitter said, “Former NSA Mr. M.K. Narayanan has reached damning conclusions on the current India/China face-off that I understand as serious charges against the government.”
“There are crucial charges on failure to gather imagery Intelligence (IMINT) and signal intelligence (SIGINT) and analyse them,” the former Union Minister added.
Mr. Narayanan, in the opinion piece, stated that failure to analyse available intelligence, dismantling of the Joint Intelligence Command by the Modi government, preference for ‘Summit Diplomacy’ over regular foreign policy-making and lack of China experts, have been contributory factors to the current decline in Sino-Indian relationship.
“It is axiomatic that leaders make better decisions when they have better information, and the enduring value of intelligence comes from this fundamental reality,” Mr. Narayanan observed in his piece.
“I wonder if the Prime Minister, External Affairs Minister and NSA have read the article. If they have, what is their answer,” asked Mr. Chidamabaram, who headed the Home Ministry between November 2008 and July 2012.
