Wiki: Fernandes sought CIA funds

New Delhi: Diplomatic cables released on Monday by Wikileaks claimed that senior JD-U leader and former convenor of NDA, George Fernandes sought funds from the Central Intelligence Agency during the Emergency and asked French labour attache Manfred Turlach to suggest CIA contacts.

The US labour counsellor was also approached by a Fernandes acquaintance to arrange a meeting between him and the US ambassador, the cables said in a revelation that suggests the socialist leader was ready to forego his political allergy of the US to seek monetary assistance to fight the Indira regime.

In his conversations with Turlach, Fernandes is shown claiming that he had a band of 300 people involved in sabotage activities liking blowing up railway bridges in the south and a bridge between Mumbai and Pune besides setting Mumbai dock and the LIC building in Chennai on fire. One cable showed Fernandes stating in November 1975 that “he was even prepared to accept money from the USA”.

Fernandes, who is suffering from Alzheimer’s, couldn’t be contacted. The socialist leader, who burst into the national spotlight after be brought the country to a halt by a railway strike, was not perceived to be friendly to the US. He shut down the operations of Coca Cola and IBM when he was industry minister. However, his animus towards the Congress, especially during the Emergency, may have pushed him to take extreme measures, including seeking US assistance.

A trade union colleague of Fernandes said, “In the battle between means and end, he has rarely let means come in the way of end. It does not surprise me that George sought CIA help and as a minister in the Janata government, threw Coca Cola and IBM out of the country.”
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Gandhi bros ‘competed’ as middlemen for IAF deal

Rajiv And Sanjay Worked With Rival Firms To Ink Pact
New Delhi: During the Emergency (1975-77), the Gandhi brothers, Rajiv and Sanjay, may have competed as representatives in at least one of the most lucrative aircraft contracts of the day, suggest the US Embassy cables released by Wikileaks.

The US Embassy had said in a cable on July 30, 1976 that the Maruti company controlled by Sanjay was negotiating for BAC (British Aircraft Corporation) in India, and in a later cable added that it believed the company was already working with it. BAC was in the race for two aircraft contracts in India — for supplying aircraft to Indian Airlines and as a joint developer of Jaguar fighter for the Indian Air Force’s Deep Penetration Strike Aircraft (DPSA) project.

The US Embassy cables — sent between 1973 and 1976 — suggest that Rajiv was working for Saab-Scania, whose Viggen aircraft was in the fray with Jaguar for the DPSA venture.

So, if the secret cables from the US Embassy in India are to be believed, then the brothers were working for rival firms that were desperate to sell fighters to the IAF.

It is not clear if the brothers’ rivalry over IAF’s fighter deal had spilled over to family ties. However, the IAF’s fighter contract went beyond the Emergency, and the final decision could not be taken until 1978, when the Janata government settled for Jaguar fighters.

It is not recorded if Maruti, or Sanjay Gandhi, financially benefitted from the deal.

Sanjay also probably worked for BAC in Indian Airlines contract. It had bid its aircraft 111-474 against Boeing’s 737-200 and Fokker’s F-28 Mark 4000. Finally, Boeing bagged the contract.

According to the US cables, Maruti was also keen to represent other aircraft manufacturers in India.

On August 27, 1976, the US Embassy cabled Washington DC saying that K L Jalan, managing director, Maruti Heavy Vehicles, requested mission’s assistance in “arranging a meeting with the president or high level official of Cessna aircraft to discuss the sale of Cessna aircraft in India”. Jalan assured the Embassy that his firm has an “immediate sale for two aircraft with a very promising outlook for 20 more units by fiscal year-end, March 1977”.

Jalan requested that the Cessna’s official make a special trip to India within the next 10 days to discuss financial details, the cable said. Four days later, Jalan approached the US Embassy again. This time he told an Embassy official that Maruti wanted to contact Piper Aircraft, another aviation firm, too. “Please inform Mr Robert C Watson, Piper Aircraft Corp, Lock Haven, PA of the approach by Maruti,” the cable to the headquarters said.

Fakruddin Ahmed resented Indira’s family planning policyNew Delhi: Fakruddin Ali Ahmed, the rubberstamp president during the Emergency era, may not have been a complete rubberstamp after all.

According to a secret US Embassy cable sent on August 6, 1976, the mission said, “We have heard much more reliably (than rumours) that Fakruddin is seriously concerned over some of the govt’s family planning moves.” The cable said the rumours have been about “some disaffection between the prime minister and president Fakruddin Ali Ahmed. The stories vary but have as their central core that Fakruddin is concerned that the PM and her son are pushing too hard on the political and constitutional system of India.” TNN
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