Kash Patel's appointment may be significant for India

Hopes of cooperation between American and Indian security agencies have increased in order to tackle Khalistani and Naxal terrorists, drug trafficking, economic crimes, etc.

- ALOK MEHTA

You must have heard a famous film song: "Anhoni ko honi kar de, honi ko anhoni", this song is now being fulfilled by the steps being taken by Modi-Trump duo in world politics. Many announcements feel like a miracle. Could it have been imagined 30 years ago that two Hindus (one of them of Indian origin) would be on the top of the most important intelligence system of the United States?

I remember the opportunity I had in September 1987 to meet senior officer Richard Swain and other officers at the FBI office in Washington and understand the working of the investigation agency. In the 1970s and 1980s, not only our government but the media also discussed a lot about the tension between the two countries.

Still, there was scope for Indian investigation agencies to learn something from the working of the FBI. The interesting thing was that from then till now the head of the FBI accepts that crimes are constantly increasing in America. The second interesting thing is that on 27 October 1999, when we published a report by our young colleague Pushpranjan in "Dainik Hindustan" about the efforts of the FBI to open a small office in Delhi, the American embassy sent me, the editor, a letter of denial. We had confirmed this information from Indian sources, so we considered the letter as a mere formality and did not publish the denial. Even at that time the FBI had appointed 139 people of Indian origin as agents at various lower positions in the organization. But soon the situation changed. In 2001, after the 9/11 terrorist attack, the US was forced to seek more cooperation from India, so the information about the appointment of two senior FBI officers in New Delhi was formally made public. The then Foreign Minister Jaswant Singh gave a detailed description of this in Parliament in December 2001. Meaning the doors of relations opened. However, even now the Indian government understands the danger of anti-India activities from the CIA and the deep state.