| M. K. Narayanan | |
|---|---|
| Governor of West Bengal | |
| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office 24 January 2010 |
|
| Preceded by | Devanand Konwar |
| National Security Advisor (India) | |
| In office January 2005 – January 2010 |
|
| Preceded by | J. N. Dixit |
| Succeeded by | Shivshankar Menon |
| Personal details | |
| Born | July 23, 1934 |
| Spouse(s) | Padmini Narayanan |
Mayankote Kelath Narayanan (Malayalam: മായങ്കോട് കേളത്ത് നാരായണന്) (born 23 July 1934), commonly referred to as M. K. Narayanan, is the current Governor of Indian state West Bengal and was the National Security Advisor (NSA) to the Prime Minister of India until January 2010. He was appointed to this post on January 25, 2005, three weeks after the previous NSA, J. N. Dixit, died on January 3, 2005.[1] He offered to resign on 30 November 2008 over the attacks in Mumbai that killed nearly 200 people, but his resignation was not accepted by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. He experienced heavy criticism after the Mumbai terrorist attacks due to his preoccupation with Sri Lanka and the LTTE, instead of what others considered to be India's chief threat, Kashmiri insurgents and Pakistan.
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M. K. Narayanan hails from Palakkad, a district of the state Kerala.[2]
Narayanan completed his graduation from the Madras Christian College. He is married to Padmini Narayanan and the couple have a son, Vijay, and a daughter, Meena. Their son-in-law Ajit Nambiar is Chairman and Managing Director of BPL Ltd.[3]
M. K. Narayanan headed the Intelligence Bureau (IB) from 1987 to 1990, before heading the Joint Intelligence Committee. He became Chief of the IB again in 1991, before retiring in 1992. He was the Special Advisor for Internal Security to the Prime Minister of India beginning in May 2004.[4]
He is alleged to plant his staunch supporters as RAW and IB chiefs. He grew infamous when he wanted to sack the then RAW chief C. D. Sahay. He began systematically undermining Sahay; he planted his own man, Hormis Tharakan, former Kerala police chief who was occasionally deputed to RAW, as Sahay’s eventual successor. The then NSA, J. N. Dixit, countered that Narayanan himself had not been sacked when Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated (Narayanan was the IB chief), and that no intelligence heads rolled after the Kargil intrusions were discovered[5]
He presided over a post-Rabindra Singh(a RAW joint secretary suspected of being a double agent, defected in 2004. Singh was handing RAW secrets over to the USA, to where he fled from Kathmandu via Vienna once he was discovered) defection enquiry that has not damaged a single officer’s career; in some cases, the opposite has happened.[6] Shashi Bhushan Tomar, the last man to see Rabindra Singh after the latter’s car was searched as he left RAW HQ in Delhi on April 19, 2004. Tomar, suspect colleagues, tipped Singh off that he was under RAW surveillance, enabling the double agent to evade his stake-out and escaped and Tomar is now posted in New York.[7]
On 24th Jan 2010 he became the governor of West Bengal. He took over from Gopalkrishna Gandhi who had a few disagreements with the CPM-ruled West Bengal on critical issues like violence in Nandigram and Singur. He was awarded with the Gusi Peace Prize 2011.
According to the Outlook magazine, Narayanan asked investigative agencies to go slow when they zeroed-in on Hindutva organizations for Samjhauta Express bombings in 2007.[8]
| Government offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Devanand Konwar |
Governor of West Bengal 2009 – present– |
Succeeded by Current Incumbent |
| Preceded by J N Dixit |
National Security Advisor (NSA) January, 2005 – January 2010 |
Succeeded by Shivshankar Menon |