Ashok Chaturvedi - Government Sanctions Dismissal

Government Sanctions Dismissal

Because of the repeated instances of incompetence and scandals during Chaturvedi's tenure and the continuing decline of the intelligence agency, it had been reported by the Indian and foreign press that the R&AW chief would be removed from his post, which has never happened before.

It was reported that several Western intelligence agencies were reluctant to share classified information with R&AW's top officials, because of Chaturvedi. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and other senior officials of his secretariat were unhappy with him as a result.

The Middle East Times revealed that at a closed-door meeting at the start of 2008 which all of India's intelligence and military chiefs were present, Chaturvedi was asked for his opinion on the upcoming security challenges the country faced. The R&AW chief presented his views while chewing tobacco and sounding incoherent. Narayanan asked him to clean out his mouth. But "Embarrassment turned to humiliation when Chaturvedi resumed his analysis only to be told by Narayanan that he was making more sense when the tobacco was in his mouth."

The pressure to sack him on the grounds of gross incompetence had reached Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who supported by senior leaders in the ruling Congress Party, gave his approval to quietly remove Chaturvedi.

Chaturvedi made a direct personal appeal to Congress Party President Sonia Gandhi to save his job, claiming that he was not in good health and that he should be allowed to serve out the remainder of his service period. Gandhi, passed the responsibility for the decision to Narayanan with her recommendation for a review. Narayanan deferred making any decision thus reprieving Chaturvedi. G.S. Bajpai, a former head of R&AW and Tripathi's father-in law, also intervened and pleaded the case to keep Chaturvedi when it looked like he would be sacked. Quoting sources from the Prime Minister's Office, the Middle East Times claimed that "The Congress Party was worried that if Chaturvedi was sacked it would be a sign of admitting that they had made a mistake."

Criticism has focused on Narayanan himself, who despite being a respected figure within India for his record with the domestic spy agency, the Intelligence Bureau (IB), he has had to take criticism for sanctioning Chaturvedi's appointment and continuing in persisting with him.