CHARGES GALORE IN CIA DEBATE CHAGLA PROMISES INQUIRY

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP73-00475R000101370001-5
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 27, 2016
• Document Release Date: December 18, 2013
• Sequence Number: 1
• Publication Date: March 24, 1967
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

STAT
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release @ 50-Yr 2013/12/18: CIA-RDP73-00475R000101370001-5
STAT
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1 New Delhi, March 23?A half-hour discussion intend-'
1 ecl to pillory th:,:, Congress for the association 'of some of.;
1 its leaders with agencies allegedly .receiving CIA funds i
I ended up in a great deal of embarrassment for the Oppo-
! sition. groups as well.
Before the debate concluded,
; charges that quite a few Opposi-
tion leaders had at one time or
the oaher received CIA funds
, through "conduit" agencies were
i also heard.
Just as Mr Umanath initiated
' the discussion, Mrs Tarakeshwari
i Sinha intervened to add Mr V. K.
; Krishna 1Vienon's name to the long
!list of leaders beginning with De-
puty Prime Minister Morarji
; Desai and ending with Commerce
; Minister Dinesh Singh and Mrs
; Vijayalakshmi Pandit, who the
C
lef Communist leader alleged
l were connected with institutions 1 .,N?-?\?":.:: G
! t ,
; financed by the CIA "conduit" ,...,._, , ?::':;.'% '
- foundations.
? Mrs Sinha's disclosure that Mr ,
; Menon had received *10,000 from
; the Asia Foundation for the Inter-
national Law Institute stung the
!Communist opposition as sharply
I as Mr Umantith's charges hurt
the Congress leaders. When she
: insisted that a ? number of other
Ileft politicians had also received
the tainted money, an uproar re-
sulted. The names of Opposi-
tion and Congress leaders were
bandied about by the dozen. '
i Congress member Shashi Bhu-
1 shan wanted to know the sources
i of finances which had enabled
! Jan Sangh leader Balraj 1Viadhok
; to visit Taiwan. Turning to the
' Communists, he alleged that a
; delegation of the Students' Fede-
ration, a Communist-inspired stu-
dent organization, which visited
1 Finland had also visited West
Germany with CIA funds. Mrs
I Sinha. alleged that the SSP leader
;1 George Fernandes had benefited
from CIA sources when he was
,:onnecteci with the Hind Mazdoor
Sabha. She. conceded; however, .
last he i:,. as no longer. connacta.1
.,
With the HMS. The External Affairs Minister,
1 i Provlt,olzed by the - attiud: on 1\71. Continued on back page col. 3
! ??..arlal Gupta and Onkarnath ; _
; l Berwa demanded that the Gov- ;
; crnment should inc,nire into the i
i.:,..,4ivities.. of .the Russan and Chi- I ,
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release @ 50-Yr 2013/12/18 : CIA-RDP73-00475R000101370001:5
The HINDUSTAN T-MhS March 24.1 1967
.7?1
671 1-11
LL,U1Ii. Li
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Tar Oralf e
1'. 77 , 3,7'77 7
, 1.3: r,
^
?
"That tip?are you sure it isn't
CIA money?"
nese financed;agencies,
This atmosphere of charges and
counter charges set the appropri-
ate context for External Affairs
Minister M. C. Chagla to agree to
a demand by the SSP leader
Mad'nu Limaye that there 'should
be a comprehensive inquiry to
find out how foreign money was
coming into India and the manner
of its disbursal.
Replying to the discussion, Mr
Chagla said the Government felt
concerned over foreign interfer-
ence in Indian activities and assur-
ed the House that the Govern-
ment was as anxious as the op-
position to get to the root of the
matter.
Govt0 will act tlancogh
CIS, says Clanglia
Continued from page 1 col. 7 the Government of India for its
failure he alleged that the Central
Bureau of Investigation and the
CIA had functioned in co-opera-
tion with each other. He quoted
the former U.S. Ambassador Gal-
braith in this context.
Mr Chagla's defence against the
opposition insinuations smacked
of political naivete. He almost
seemed to plead for indulgence
because Mr Desai and the others,
including the Opposition leaders,
were innocent dupes as they had
no knowledge of the source of
the finances of the institutions
with which they were associated.'
Sihanouk alleges
however, refused to commit him-
self to a commission of inquiry
demanded by the Opposition, How
precisely the Government would
institute the inquiry would be
decided after he had discussed it
with his Cabinet colleagues, Mr
Chagla said.
In his reply, Mr Chagla also
made a distinction between intel-
ligence activities which he thought
was "a fact of international life
one had to learn to live with" and
espionage which was reprehensi-
ble.
"We will take action through
the Intelligence Bureau to unearth
any plot, any activity which is ob-
jectionable, which is against na-
tional interests." he said.
Referring to allegations by Op-
position members, Mr Chagla said
"the Government would take care
to see that under the cloak of
cultural exchanges people are not
being inducted into a political
philosophy or way of life, con-
trary to what we believe in."
But for these assurances, the
discussion brought no new infor-
mation to light. Mr Umanath's
description of CIA activities, based
on copious quotations from Ameri-
can newspapers, had ? all the
cloak-and-dagger flourish. .?
Mr Limaye was more forthright.
He paid a tribute to American
democracy for having unearthed
the CIA, operations. Criticising
CIA plot
Phnom Penh, March 23 (Reu-
ter)?Cambodian Head of State
Prince Norodom Sihanouk said
yesterday he had been told of a
plot by the American Central In-
telligence Agency to eliminate,
him this year.
But he admitted the story
might not be true,
The CIA was at work in Cam-
bodia hatching a plot to depose
him during 1967, he said.
"If the intentions attributed to
,the CIA are confirmed, the result
would be to push Cambodia to-
wards Communism." he added.