2024-07-11 06:31:29
New Delhi: Will Rajinder Khanna become the National Security Advisor (NSA) after Ajit Doval, who is called India’s James Bond? Recently, there have been many changes in the National Security Council Secretariat (NSCS). Narendra Modi became the Prime Minister for the third time on June 9, 2014, and Ajit Doval’s third term also started the very next day, on June 10. He kept getting appointed as the National Security Advisor along with Narendra Modi becoming the Prime Minister in 2014 and 2019. But something new has happened in the NSCS in PM Modi’s third term. That is, for the first time, an Additional NSA has been appointed. This new post has been given to Rajinder Khanna, who has been promoted from the post of Deputy NSA. Rajinder Khanna has been the head of the country’s external intelligence agency RAW.
NSCS major changes in Modi 3.0
In fact, the Modi government has reorganized the National Security Council Secretariat in its third term. The changes also include changes in the reporting system. Changes in reporting have taken place at both levels – first within the secretariat and second between the NSA office and the Union ministers. The NSA has become the head of a bigger organization than before. Till now he used to have only three deputies, but now there is also an additional NSA. Sanjay Baru, media advisor to former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and National Security Advisory Board of India (NSABI), says that now the main work of the NSA has become advisory, while his role in operational matters has decreased. Baru has said in his article published in the English newspaper The Indian Express that now NSA Doval will deal with advisory bodies like the National Security Advisory Board (NSABI) and the Strategic Policy Group (SPG).
Will Ajit Doval be proactive?
Baru says that the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) and the chiefs of the three armies, along with the secretaries of some other departments including Defence, Home and Foreign, report to the NSA, and all of them also do daily reporting to their ministers. In such a situation, it will have to be seen how the ministers of these departments view the new changes. Baru says that although the Prime Minister’s Principal Advisor deals with the civil bureaucracy, but if the NSA shows over-activity and starts holding meetings of the Cabinet Secretary and other secretaries of the government, then there may be a situation of tussle.
What role will the Additional NSA play?
According to Sanjay Baru, the post of Additional NSA that has been created will now act as a gatekeeper between the NS and six mid-level unit heads. These unit heads are three Deputy NSAs and the chiefs of the three armies. This means that another layer of bureaucracy has been created between the Prime Minister and those who monitor national security on a day-to-day basis. The question is whether the NSA will still brief the Prime Minister every day or has this responsibility now gone to the Additional NSA or will both the NSA and the Additional NSA together brief the PM? Another question is how will the heads of RAW and IB and then the CDS have relations with the PM?
There are many questions from the new appointment
Baru says that these changes have raised many questions within both civil and military bureaucracies. There is also speculation as to whether the Modi government has sent a message to NSA Doval by promoting Rajinder Khanna. Amidst these speculations, it is also being said that it is possible that Ajit Doval will complete his tenure, only after that Rajinder Khanna will be given his place. In Doval’s third appointment, it has been said that he will remain in his post till the tenure of Prime Minister Narendra Modi or till further orders.