It took me a long time to close the reading of Open Secrets.
The full name of the title is Open Secrets – the Explosive Memoirs of an Indian
Intelligence Officer by M K Dhar.
The book contains thirty-three chapters and a long Prologue.
It was the contents of the Prologue, which held me long. I developed an
impression that the author was a self-righteous person who intends to guide the
state on the methods of running an intelligence-gathering machinery and police
administration. It made me learn something about the author from the book
details, and I learned that it was written by an IPS officer who had worked for
IB for a long duration. I do not know the civil services rules, but according
to the writer, he was allotted West Bengal Cadre. He was earmarked during his
training period for Intelligence work, and after spending some time as a police
officer in West Bengal Districts, he moved to Delhi and got absorbed in IB. He
was forcibly retired from the services during the tenure of Prime Minister
Narsimha Rao for fumbling with the ISRO espionage case. Anyhow, I continued the
reading. I had received this book free of cost for being a Prime Member scheme
of Amazon. I earmarked it for reading on a Tab during my official duty where it
provides a long duration of inactivity. That became the cause of taking too
much time for reading this book.
Like the author, I have already talked too much about
myself. However, I enjoy the freedom of saying whatsoever, and I want to say,
as I am posting it on my blog.
Before I write further, I recommend the reading of this
book.
The readers can look into the preview of the book given
below.
The author had discussed such issues of Indian politics at
the national and international level, which were new for me. I believe that it
may be same for all such readers who believe in reading a quality material that
can be entertaining and informative.
I learned about the East India separatist problems in detail
for the first time. The author worked as an intelligence operator of India in
Manipur and Nagaland. I can not authenticate all the information about the
social and economic aspect of those regions, as everything was new to me. The
author seems to have first-hand information about the tribes of East India. He
knew about their culture, social structure and their mindset. Therefore, the
reader who is interested in East India issues after the Independence of India,
the book will be highly beneficial. The general public should also read the
text to get the full definition of India.
The case of Sikkim was another addition to my knowledge
after reading the book. The issues related to Punjab were quite refreshing, and
I can authenticate the information provided in case of Punjab as I have lived
through the tumultuous period of Punjab. Some of the information was new to me.
Similarly, the information on India and Pakistan relation,
the relevance of Canada in the matter which is still an important issue was
quite an addition to my understanding.
The author of the book had worked under the tenure of
Jawahar Lal, Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi, Vishwanath Partap Singh and Narasimha
Rao. He made many generalisations based on history and gave an incisive
observation on the history of Modern India. No doubt, he was an IPS officer
with good family and educational background.
The author has adopted a literary style in writing each
chapter. Every chapter begins with a quotation. Some of the episodes have a
touch of a novelist. Somewhere one feels that he is writing as per the manual
of the literary styles.
The author has tried to hide many truths. He was probably
under a constraint to give only clues about some of the people who were in
power. However, in the case of Buta Singh and Zail Singh, he is quite open in
the later chapters.
The author has tried to project himself as a man of high
moral stands and refined virtues. He is open to reveal that he has a liking for
and linkage with RSS. He has identified many RSS stalwarts about whom the
present generation does not know. He claims to be an acquaintance of Dhirubhai
Ambani and holds him and his family in high esteem. An intelligence operator
has taken sides and became judgemental. I do not know how a more mature reader
and knowledgeable people would evaluate it. The author had tried to convey that
he had written this book to start a debate in the country. I have my views and
a new reader of this book have his views.
The author has written another book with the same opening
title but the subtitle of that book is India’s Intelligence Unveiled. Apart
from that, there are some more titles to his name. Probably, they are being
made available by his Mainak Dhar.
Mainak Dhar, another writer, who is the son of the author and
found mention in the book, is also an author. His books are also available on
Amazon and from Booksellers.
A Preview of a book by Mainak Dhar
