Bharat- The Battleground for CIA and KGB

 America and Russia fought a secret battle to control India. Their spies funded Indian parties, manipulated the media and stole secrets

"The whole country is for sale," said one Russian spy.

For decades, India was a prime target for foreign spies . It was the world's largest democracy and an influential power among developing countries

Both America's Central Intelligence Agency and the Soviet Union's KGB fought to influence India's politics in their favour. It was the Americans who got to India first. After 1947, independent India needed help in setting up its intelligence agencies. It turned to America for support. In 1949, the Intelligence Bureau's Director TG Sanjevi met with the CIA, FBI and State Department in America. The meetings with the CIA went well and the two agencies established intelligence cooperation

Through the 1950s, the CIA's presence in India grew stronger.

It used 🇮🇳 airspace to support the Tibetan resistance against China. It also expanded and set up stations across India. The CIA also began interfering in India's domestic politics.

The CIA gave money to the Congress Party and helped it bring down the Communist state government in Kerala in 1959. It also funded organisations like the Asia Foundation to push a pro-American narrative to Indians. As the Cold War with Soviet Russia heated up, America was keen to have a closer relationship with India.

After the 1962 India-China war, the CIA worked with 🇮🇳 to secure the border with China. 

Despite Nehru's non-alignment, the CIA was deeply involved in 🇮🇳's govt by the 1960s. Even Nehru's private secretary, Mac Mathai, was suspected to be working for American intelligence.

“The CIA had access to every paper passing through Nehru’s Secretariat," wrote historian Sarvepalli Gopal.

This created suspicion against the CIA in India.

BUT, Soviet Russia wasn't far behind

In the 1960s, the Soviets wanted to challenge America among developing countries.

So India became a battleground for them.

By the late 1960s, the Soviets and its KGB intelligence agency had also established deep networks inside India's govt. Soviet Russia provided political funding to the Congress Party and the two Communist Parties. 

PM Indira Gandhi’s political fundraiser Lalit Narayan Mishra worked closely with the KGB.

Senior Congress leaders (including a minister) received money from the KGB in the 1967 election. "The entire country was seemingly for sale, and the KGB and the CIA had deeply penetrated the Indian government. After a while, neither side entrusted sensitive information to the Indians, realizing their enemy would know all about it the next day," said Oleg Kalugin, a KGB spy. The CIA and the KGB fought hard to influence Indian politics

BUT, as India-US relations became worse after the 1965 Indo-PAK war, the CIA was attacked in 🇮🇳 for interfering in India's politics.

While the CIA and America's reputation suffered, Soviet Russia gained more power. In 1967, news broke that the CIA was secretly funding a number of organisations in India to push a pro-American narrative. Suspicion against the CIA increased so much that in 1967, India's govt was forced to order an inquiry into CIA interference in Indian politics. Meanwhile, the KGB increased its power by funding some Congress and Left politicians in the 1967 elections.

It also cultivated journalists and funded newspapers and magazines to push stories criticizing the CIA during the election. Indira Gandhi's leftist politics at home and closeness to the Soviets abroad meant that the KGB had the upper hand throughout the 1970s.

The KGB's presence in India was soon larger than almost anywhere else in the world.

It backed the Congress in the 1971 and 1977 elections.

Russian intelligence pushed Communist parties in India to support the Indira Gandhi govt.

It also used the Indian media to run negative stories about America. It planted fake news stories accusing the CIA of trying to rig the 1967 election and assassinate Indira Gandhi. This campaign was extremely successful and PM Gandhi took to blaming the CIA or "foreign elements" for national crises

In 1972, Indians were protesting against inflation and unemployment. Gandhi blamed the CIA for trying to destabilize the country rather than take responsibility. Gandhi's public attacks on the CIA became a big problem for India-US relations.

Washington cut economic aid to India, reduced the number of diplomats in the country and gave less priority to New Delhi. The distrust caused by CIA ops poisoned India-US ties for decades after. Meanwhile, Soviet Russia continued to dominate the intelligence game through the 1970s and 1980s. In 1985, it was revealed that officials in the PMO and the Defence Ministry were selling secrets to Soviet Russia. 

But, India also decided not to crack down harshly on the Soviets. By the late 1980s, the Cold War between America and the Soviet Union had ended. So did the grand battle to influence India's politics and its position in the Cold War.

But the US-Soviet battle for influence shaped India's politics for decades. 

Sources:

1. Quiet Americans in India by Paul McGarr

2. The Mithrokhin Archive II: KGB in the World

3. The Soviets in India (CIA declassified documents)