BJP leader Jain to PM -- Why does your Govt brand me as ISI agent?

BJP leader Jain to PM -- Why does your Govt brand me as ISI agent?
HARISH GUPTA

NEW DELHI, NOVEMBER 22: Prominent Bharatiya Janata Party leader and owner of Jain TV, Dr J.K. Jain, has complained to Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee about an intelligence report which has allegedly branded him as an ISI agent.

In a letter written on November 18, Jain has alleged that because of the report, he and his company JAIN TV ``are being treated like the enemies of the nation by your government.''

A copy of the letter is in possession of The Indian Express. When contacted, Jain refused to comment.

The letter says: ``I have learnt from some of your cabinet colleagues that a report, which originated from the Research and Analysis Wing of the Cabinet Secretariat, has branded me a Pakistani Agent and JAIN TV an ISI outfit.''

Jain's letter says that the report was forwarded by the Ministry of Home Affairs to the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. He says that it ``happened without the knowledge or approval of the Hon'ble Home Minister.''

In the letter which points to the bitter factional feud within the ruling party and the government, Jain has alleged that he was told by a section of the PMO to vacate the Scindia Villa premises and hand it over to Vasundhara Raje Scindia. Jain has also alleged that JAIN TV survives under the constant threats and repeated visits by the Police and NDMC officials, ``just the way I saw Shri Ram Nath Goenka's Indian Express surviving during Emergency period.''

Jain also alleged that the financial institutions and banks has been treating his firms unfairly. ``My obedience to my leadership, my sense of discipline and commitment to the party, has entirely been mistaken by some as my weaknesses,'' Jain writes.

``I have seen many Prime Ministers come and go... I had told your Principal Secretary that I don't care for the Prime Minister, but I care for you and your orders. Not because you are the Prime Minister but because you are my beloved leader,'' he writes in the letter which refers to Brajesh Mishra at more than one point.

Jain writes that the relationship of love and trust between ``our supreme leader and ordinary party workers'' is shattered because of ``political worms of vicious nature and wheelers and dealers in power politics''. ``But will you permit them to be so blatant as to brand workers like me as Pakistani agents and inflict indignities on me?'' he says.

``If India's premier intelligence outfits like the Research and Analysis Wing of the Cabinet Secretariat are corrupted and their reports are manipulated to serve the petty personal interests of a few in power or to settle the scores on behalf of certain business houses, one must raise the issue where are we leading the country to?'' he adds.

Jain says that he wrote the letter as his request for an appointment with the Prime Minister received no response.