This is for the younger generation who don’t know the real history of the fake nationalists, the Sangh Parivar, and their repeated failures and sabotage attempts of our national security whenever they had the chance to govern India. They never speak about their role in enabling Pakistan to become a nuclear power, a threat we face even today. Very few from this generation know how close India once came to stopping Pakistan’s nuclear bomb. Not with missiles, but with men in the shadows, forged passports, and hair collected from barbershops!
In the 1970s, as India was facing geopolitical threats on multiple fronts, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi created something unprecedented: RAW (Research and Analysis Wing), India’s answer to the CIA and KGB. At the helm was Rameshwar Nath Kao, the brilliant and enigmatic spymaster who masterminded the creation of Bangladesh and turned RAW into one of the finest intelligence agencies in the region.
After the war, RAW faced a new challenge. Pakistan’s secretive nuclear programme, spearheaded by Dr A.Q. Khan, was in Kahuta, a town so unremarkable it didn’t even appear on maps. But RAW was watching.
Our agents on the ground travelled to various places to track unusual activity. They posed as businessmen dealing in buffaloes, taxi drivers, and more, visiting small towns and collecting hair samples from local barbershops, which were then sent back to India for years. Eventually, they observed unusual activity around Kahuta, along with suspicious findings in hair samples from the area.
Kahuta is a small town barely 30 kilometres from our international border, near Poonch in Jammu and Kashmir. RAW agents began systematically collecting hair samples from barbershops in the vicinity and sending them to India for radiation analysis. The results confirmed exposure to enriched uranium, a clear sign of a nuclear programme. Intelligence reports were mounting. RAW had mapped the site, tracked the scientists, and prepared sabotage plans. They even considered an airstrike. Israel, too, was interested in targeting the plant. MOSSAD partnered with RAW to understand every detail of Pakistan's nuclear programme.
But in 1977, the political winds shifted. Congress lost the election, and a coalition government, which can legitimately be called the first Sangh Parivar government, came to power with Morarji Desai as Prime Minister. A.B. Vajpayee was the External Affairs Minister, L.K. Advani was the I&B Minister, and many other RSS and Jan Sangh biggies called the shots.
Morarji Desai was deeply suspicious of covert operations. He had opposed the establishment of RAW right from his days in the opposition. As PM, he slashed RAW’s budget by two-thirds, sidelined R.N. Kao, and eventually forced the spymaster’s quiet resignation.
Desai’s aversion to espionage crossed into recklessness. He maintained a friendly relationship with Pakistani dictator Zia-ul-Haq, who would call him and even discuss bizarre things like the supposed benefits of drinking urine.
After RAW confirmed the nuclear activity at Kahuta, they sought Desai’s approval for a strike on the facility. But Morarji refused angrily and denied permission. Then, in an act still debated in Indian intelligence circles, Desai personally called General Zia and casually revealed:
“We know about your enrichment facility in Kahuta.”
Just like that, Operation Kahuta was dead.
Pakistan, stunned by the leak, immediately tightened security, moved the entire facility underground, and launched a witch-hunt. Several RAW agents were captured, executed, or vanished. Years of patient espionage were lost in a single phone call.
By 1998, Pakistan had tested its first nuclear bomb. Our carelessness made them a nuclear power.
India lost its chance not due to a lack of intelligence but due to a foolish leader and his trusted Sangh lieutenants in the cabinet who had neither the background nor understanding of national security or intelligence. This is the untold story of the first Sangh Parivar government and why the people never gave them another chance for decades.
Today, as S. Jaishankar has done something eerily similar to what Morarji did, are you really surprised? The Sangh Parivar has always been about grand rhetoric, not any constructive action worth noting in history. The only actions they are known for are treachery and subservience.
