The Truth About the "Foreign Hand" in India

Over the past twelve months, tales of spies and spycraft have complicated India’s relationships with key Western partners.

In recent months, both Canada and the United States have alleged that India’s foreign intelligence agency was involved in a complex plot to identify and target Khalistani separatists who were citizens of those countries.

In India, these allegations have, in turn, revealed deep skepticism about the actions of western spy agencies and the negative role they’ve played in India and across the Global South.

A new book, Spying in South Asia: Britain, the United States, and India’s Secret Cold War, offers the first comprehensive history of US and UK intelligence operations in the Indian subcontinent. The author of this book is Paul McGarr, a lecturer in Intelligence Studies at King’s College London.

To talk more about his new book—and the West’s 50-year battle to win the hearts and minds of Indians—Paul joins Milan on the show this week.

The two discuss India’s tradition of spycraft, the long shadow of the British Raj, and secret collaboration between the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency and its Indian counterparts. Plus, the two discuss why the covert efforts of British and American intelligence agencies in 20th century India largely proved to be misguided and self-defeating.

Episode notes:

1. VIDEO: “Indira Gandhi Overdid the ‘Foreign Hand’ but Some of Her Fears About the CIA were real ,” The Wire, November 21, 2024.

2. “Inside the Secret World of South Asia's Spies (with Adrian Levy),” Grand Tamasha, October 27, 2021.