Was Parrikar referring to IK Gujral when he made the remark on ex-PMs?

Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar was reportedly referring to former Prime Minister Inder Kumar Gujral on Thursday when he alleged that some former Prime Ministers had compromised the country’s “deep assets” on national security, according to reports.

Sources on Friday told NDTV that Parrikar “was referring to the dismantling of India’s intelligence network in neighbouring countries during his (Gujral’s) tenure as PM, under what was called the Gujral Doctrine on foreign policy.”

“After all, you have to build deep assets. Deep assets are created over 20-30 years. Sadly, there were some prime ministers who compromised deep assets…I am not going to disclose names. Many people know,” Parrikar had said on Thursday after releasing a special issue of the Hindi weekly Vivek, on national security.

Congress had called the charge serious and demanded evidence from Parrikar to substantiate his claims or tender a public apology.

“The charge levelled by Parrikar is serious and grave,” Congress Spokesperson Randeep Surjewala had said, adding that the party was sincerely hoping Parrikar knew what he was articulating and had the facts and evidence to substantiate his charges.

“We hope he would not follow the classical ‘shoot and scoot’ policy of BJP of levelling a charge and denying it thereafter by taking a U-turn. For you cannot play to the issue of national security in a political fashion,” Surjewala had said.

BJP, however, had stood behind the minister, saying if he had said something it should be taken with “gravitas” and rejected the demand for his apology.

(With inputs from PTI)