Book contents
- Spying in South Asia
- Spying in South Asia
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Acknowledgements
- A Note on Place Names
- Abbreviations
- Introduction
- 1 Transfer of Power: British Intelligence and the End of Empire in South Asia
- 2 Silent Partners: Britain, India, and Early Cold War Intelligence Liaison
- 3 India’s Rasputin: V. K. Krishna Menon and the Spectre of Indian Communism
- 4 Quiet Americans: The CIA and the Onset of the Cold War in South Asia
- 5 Confronting China: The Sino-Indian War and Collaborative Covert Action
- 6 Peddling Propaganda: The Information Research Department and India
- 7 From Russia with Love: Dissidents and Defectors in Cold War India
- 8 The Foreign Hand: Indira Gandhi and the Politics of Intelligence
- 9 Battle of the Books: Daniel Patrick Moynihan, Seymour Hersh, and India’s CIA ‘Agents’
- 10 Indian Intelligence and the End of the Cold War
- Conclusion
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Index
3 - India’s Rasputin: V. K. Krishna Menon and the Spectre of Indian Communism
Published online by Cambridge University Press: aN Invalid Date NaN
- Spying in South Asia
- Spying in South Asia
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Acknowledgements
- A Note on Place Names
- Abbreviations
- Introduction
- 1 Transfer of Power: British Intelligence and the End of Empire in South Asia
- 2 Silent Partners: Britain, India, and Early Cold War Intelligence Liaison
- 3 India’s Rasputin: V. K. Krishna Menon and the Spectre of Indian Communism
- 4 Quiet Americans: The CIA and the Onset of the Cold War in South Asia
- 5 Confronting China: The Sino-Indian War and Collaborative Covert Action
- 6 Peddling Propaganda: The Information Research Department and India
- 7 From Russia with Love: Dissidents and Defectors in Cold War India
- 8 The Foreign Hand: Indira Gandhi and the Politics of Intelligence
- 9 Battle of the Books: Daniel Patrick Moynihan, Seymour Hersh, and India’s CIA ‘Agents’
- 10 Indian Intelligence and the End of the Cold War
- Conclusion
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
Vengalil Krishanan Krishna Menon established a reputation as one of the most controversial and divisive figures in Indian and broader Cold War politics. Under Nehru’s patronage, Menon experienced a meteoric rise to political power. In 1947, he was appointed to the prestigious post of Indian High Commissioner to the United Kingdom. However, his abrasive personality and readiness to listen to and, on occasions, publicly endorse, Soviet and Communist Chinese positions on a range of international questions ruffled feathers in London and Washington. In the United States, officials characterised the Indian diplomat as ‘venomous,’ ‘violently anti-American,’ and ‘an unpleasant mischief-maker’. Many British diplomats echoed such sentiments. This chapter examines the British government’s response to Krishna Menon’s appointment. It explores the nature of Menon’s relationship with the CPGB, the risk that communists working for him posed to British security, and the strategy that MI5 developed to meet it. It illustrates the Attlee government’s conviction that India, and more particularly, Krishna Menon, represented a weak link in the Commonwealth security and intelligence chain.
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- Spying in South AsiaBritain, the United States, and India's Secret Cold War, pp. 52 - 75Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2024