The US embassy, which had generally proven itself a capable and astute observer of Indian politics, proved just how disconnected the embassy officials were in their assessment of Narendra Modi. In cables sent immediately after the US refused visa to the Gujarat Chief minister in 2005, the embassy is shown to be in touch with […]
The Americans considered the hijacking of the IC-814 to Kandahar and the subsequent release of Islamic Terrorists “an ignominious decision, and defeat” on the part of India, according to new cables released by Wikileaks. The cable also shows that in 2005, the Indian external affairs ministry did not mind putting stress on the relations between […]
The Mumbai Consultate and New Delhi embassy of the US Government were extremely concerned at the use of an ‘American’ hotel in Dubai for the “brazen” wedding of Dawood Ibrahim in late 2005. The US officials in India asked for action against the US-based Hyatt group for letting the wedding take place at the hotel […]
Naxalism in India is unlikely to abate any time soon because the Indian government is not willing to take the tough steps to address the concerns of the poor and the marginalized, wrote the then US ambassador David Mulford in a 2005 cable released by Wikileaks. “Indian economic development has missed large portions of the […]
The full text of the Wikileaks cable talking about Rahul Gandhi’s initial hiccups 1. (C) Summary: Rahul Gandhi, the heir apparent of the Gandhi family dynasty, has made a number of gaffes, suggesting an uneven start to his active political career. During a series of “”roadshows”” meant to jump-start the Congress campaign in ongoing Uttar […]
The Congress Party’s swerve towards populism, as exemplified its ‘aam admi’ campaign and a flurry of schemes such as the 100-day employment guarantee scheme paradoxically owe its origin to the BJP’s own failures, Goeffrey Pyatt, the in-charge at the US embassy in Delhi pointed out in 2006. Pyatt was quick to spot the decisive move […]
Meeting Lalu Prasad Yadav, the then railway minister, was an “unforgettable experience” for the then US Ambassador to India, David Mulford, according to a cable released by Wikileaks. Mulford, who described Lalu as “as one of the most savvy, colorful, grassroots politicians in India,” however, was disappointed by the rather ‘serious’ Lalu that he encountered. […]
In 2005 immediately after his visit to Pakistan Senior Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) leader,Lal Krishna Advani’s was on the verge of being sidelined,actually he was pushed to the corner. The reason was his charitable remarks on Jinnah in which he described him a secular leader. The Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh(RSS),the parent organization of the BJP, reacted […]
India’s Home Minister P Chidambaram felt a pang of guilt at trying to ‘usurp’ law and order responsibilities from the state governments through the formation of the National Intelligence Agency, according to the latest cable leaked by Wikileaks. According to the cable written two years ago, American officials said Chidambaram felt considerable trepidation and doubts […]
Peter Burleigh, the former interim ambassador to India, was much impressed with Rahul Gandhi whom he called a “young man in a hurry.” Burleigh, who met Rahul in 2009 after a “long-standing request for an appointment,” dismissed the idea that the Gandhi scion was a “dilettante” (amateur) and was impressed with his party-building ideas. “Gandhi […]
In what has to be the biggest Wikileaks revelation so far to hit the government, a cable written just before the 2008 trust motion against government gave lurid details of bribing of MPs. Here is the extract: “On July 16, PolCouns [Political Counsel of the US Embassy] met with Captain Satish Sharma, a Congress Party […]
A 2009 US diplomatic cable leaked by Wikileaks has exposed how Pakistani leaders had to practically beg the US ambassador for money to carry out basic functions such as providing education and drinking water to its people last year. The cable written by US ambassador to Pakistan Anne Patterson shows Pakistani finance minister Shaukat Tarin […]
Pranab Mukherjee may have just been chosen as UPA’s candidate for the Indian Presidency, but his ambition and rise was noted very early on by American diplomats in India. A cable, released by Wikileaks, from the American Ambassador to India David Mulford in June 2005 to the then U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has an […]
Narendra Modi, the icon of the Hindu right wing, may have lost the popular vote on Time magazine’s top 100 poll this year, but he is the owner of a distinction none of the others, including the winner, has. Modi drew the largest number of votes of any person on the list, leaving people like […]
Even as rumors fly of a meeting between Afghan President Hamid Karzai and Taliban leaders during the former’s visit to Saudi Arabia last month, a Wikileaks cable has revealed that the Saudis were initially against such a meeting. The cable, dating back to February last year and sent from the Islamabad embassy of the United […]
Former Pakistani cricketer Imran Khan, who has a reputation as one of the least corrupt politicians in the country, had warned the US government against the Pakistani government’s exaggeration of the terror threat and “stage management” of attacks to fleece money from it. In a meeting with a delegation of the US Congress Representatives led […]
India’s manufacturing technology for fighter jets, helicopters and planes is “decades” behind those of the West, but it has made “remarkable progress” in the last few years, the then American ambassador to India Timothy Roemer wrote after a tour of India’s biggest plane factory in Bangalore last year. Roemer saw models and under-constructions fighter helicopters […]
Bangladesh’s attitude towards terrorists underwent a sea-change after the Mumbai attacks, according to the evidences of the US diplomatic cables leaked by Wikileaks. While India had to bear with a poisonous neighbour from where terrorists could walk into India almost at will for several years, after the election of Sheikh Hasina’s Awami League into power […]
The Chinese are pouring in massive amounts of money into the Tibetan region and creating huge infrastructure, some of which may be militarily used against India, noted David Brown, the US Consul General for Chengdu according to a cable released by Wikileaks. The official was describing the massive ‘overinvestment’ he saw in the Tibetan town […]
However much American leaders may praise India as the World’s “largest” democracy, a 2006 diplomatic cable leaked by Wikileaks reveals that they were under no illusions about the state of governance in India. The then US ambassador to India felt that the emergence of a separate ‘corruption economy’ and ‘corruption elite’ and that the Congress […]
