Ready To Fire How India and I Survived The ISRO Spy Case by Nambi Narayanan and Arun Ram

Ready To Fire is Scientist Nambi Narayanan’s autobiographical account of how he was framed in what is now the infamous 1994 spy case.

The fake case can be summarised thus, two scientists with help from a couple of Maldivian women, sold blueprints of the PSLV rocket to foreign agencies in exchange for money and sexual favours. The case would come to a decisive end by 1998 and by 2001 the National Human Rights Commission would order the state to provide him an interim compensation of Rs 10 Lakhs. Ironically it would take another 11 years and a High Court order for the government to actually release the said compensation.

Nambi lays the timeline of events that transpired leading to the case along with names of the accused and other parties involved from the Kerala Police, Intelligence Bureau (IB), few political factions (Karunakaran vs A.K Antony and Omman Chandy) and lastly the CBI (Central Bureau of Investigation) - that would finally absolve him and others of the alleged crimes of espionage. He also calls out the CIA (Central Intelligence Agency) on its role citing how the IB would use various half-truths to frame the narrative and how a high ranking IB official involved in the investigation would later be asked to put in his resignation voluntarily owing to his association and alleged illicit transactions with a couple of active CIA agents. In addition he also highlights how the US would apply sanctions on India and Russia to prevent transfer of the latter’s cryogenic technology in order to keep India from reaching its space ambitions.

Most of the chapters in this book are written as two part narrative, first comprising how the case unfolds and the second of his early life from schooling, college, working in a sugar factory after graduating from college and eventually leading to ISRO. From meeting the Prime Minister after a successful launch to meeting a convict nicknamed the ripper (known for his brutal modus operandi) while in custody, the stark contrast between slow ascent to dizzy heights of launching the first and now our most reliant prestigious PSLV (Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle) to the unceremonious fall to the depths of despair creates a great impact. It is crucial for such accounts, which otherwise risk becoming monotonous discourse on technology or legal embroilment.

That Nambi worked with the pioneers (as one himself) of India’s space mission during ISRO’s formative years is by itself a great asset for a book. From being interviewed for a position in ISRO by a panel comprising Kalam, his early life working at a budding ISRO along with colleagues who would later come to be trendsetters in their own right, conducting a certain low pressure bell jar experiment with gunpowder that could have ended Kalam’s life etc., he does not spare details. This extends to his account of working with the French for building the Viking/Vikas engine (an abbreviation for Vikram A Sarabhai which he cheekily reveals to the reader) and his ordeal in getting buy-in for using liquid propulsion technology convincing a majority of solid propulsion supporters amidst scrutiny, bureaucratic negligence and red tape, petty politics and in-fighting in general. An inebriated minister named Mathiyazhagan of then Tamil Nadu CM Annadurai’s cabinet came almost crawling to meet with Vikram Sarabhai slurring gibberish causing TN to lose the opportunity to have the country’s first rocket launch pad. The state of Andhra Pradesh would immediately pounce on this opportunity, which would result in what we now know as Sriharikota. While one would mostly assume ISRO for all the great minds and potential would not have the same problems as that of mere mortals the accounts provided by Nambi prove otherwise. Scientist or common man, in the end it appears we are inevitably emotional creatures and not ones governed by logic. The greed, jealousy, in-fighting, sycophancy, backstabbing and drama of any office environment seems to be the norm here too.

He shows great respect for Vikram Sarabhai as a person and a leader and considers his loss a great blow much similar to Kalam’s feelings. Kalam would term Sarabhai as the father of India’s modern space sciences equating him to Mahatma Gandhi’s role as the father of our nation. Nambi would note that beyond naming VSCC (Vikram Sarabhai Space Center) very little was done to honor his contributions towards the cause of our nation. I suppose that for someone who has read A.P.J Abdul Kalam’s Wings of Fire, it is inevitable that some references of Thumba Equatorial Rocket Launching Station (TERLS) in this book would invoke a throwback to Abdul Kalam’s own account of how the station came to be. When I read A.P.J. Abdul Kalam’s Wings Of Fire, I couldn’t help but feel that the book’s tone felt a bit swayed on optimism and did not dwell into any negatives at all. Nambi’s account feels much more grounded in reality and in that sense generates greater interest for this reader. He states in the beginning of this book that his endeavour is for truth and not any form of revenge. He makes no secret of his respect for Sarabhai, his successors Satish Dhawan and U V Rao, yet objectively evaluates Dhawan’s mistake of rejecting an earlier offer from the French for a cryogenic engine. He doesn’t spare any kindness in stating that since Rao the position of ISRO Chairman has shifted over to lesser people, likely from his experience and that he considered ISRO not backing him up during the tumultuous period of the case. His accounts of his own actions in regards to getting the job done by circumventing bureaucratic hurdles, an ‘ends justify the means’ like approach which he aptly describes as “be as nice as possible, only as nasty as necessary” feels realistic and refreshing.

While Kerala police dancing to the tunes of their political overlords decide to arrest eminent scientists with barely nothing beyond unfounded speculations, the Intelligence Bureau would one up them by employing verbal harassments and physical torture to make them confess to what can best be described a poorly imagined conspiracy theory. Relief comes to the accused scientists once the case is transferred to CBI who conduct a fair enquiry and conclude that there is barely much to report on the alleged spy case beyond the mistreatment of the accused at the hands of both the police and the IB along with their questionable investigative methods. The CBI would also work to expunge adverse remarks of the high court judge made in respect to the case. The Kerala high court would also be on the receiving end of the supreme court’s ire for granting provision to re-open the investigation on the state government’s request.

IB officials armed with no knowledge and great ignorance on the functioning rocket technology asking scientists to confess selling blueprints of rockets which hold no value feels dubious. Another account is of the IB officers asking him to name any Muslim acquaintance to make it sound like the name of a Pakistan agent feels like the plot of a dark satirical comedy. While reminding the law enforcement officers in movies who play more or less brain dead moving mannequins, it appears art does imitate life on unfortunately more intricate levels than one would think!

Nambi explains the difference between the investigation methods of the IB and CBI thus: while the IB officers who would not reveal their names citing their organizational policy would throw open ended questions hoping to grasp onto straws to build an espionage narrative to lend credibility to their case, while doing so they would also resort of verbal and physical abuse and try getting a forced confession. The CBI officers on the other hand would formally introduce themselves and their peers with their designation, ask questions very specific to the case and based on earlier records of investigation of the subject. They would get clarifications and reassure fairness of investigation. He clearly breaks down the case record submitted by the CBI towards the end classifying them as ‘IB story’ and ‘CBI Investigation Report’ demolishing the IB narrative with a point by point investigative result of the CBI. IB would use more dubious claims like flight records provided by their CIA friends in trying to connect the international espionage angle with Pakistan, Indonesia and Thailand while the fact remained that the Russian airline merely had a refuelling layover in Pakistan.

Nambi notes that while the fourth estate, especially regional ones gobbled up (and in some cases also cooked up) the initial speculations of an espionage case. An international conspiracy with abundance of money and sex would be involved in their narrative without any real substance, while their English counterparts stuck to their integrity than stoop to publish unfounded sensationalist pieces. When the dust settled and the truth prevailed, some of these regional papers and magazines would go mute or backtrack on their earlier stance. Others still continued to spin their own fantasies.

Another participant in the unfortunate spy case is the winner of the second world war and self-proclaimed gatekeeper of the modern world - the United States of America. To ensure India did not achieve self-sufficiency in launching its own satellites and enter the field of launching satellites would ensure that the United States would have one less competitor for its potential clients while India would also have to rely on the US. It would repeatedly try to sabotage India’s cryogenic ambitions with help from a Russia devolved from earlier super power spacer fasting USSR by threatening sanctions and embargo. With the fake spy case entangling Nambi - then head of cryogenics division, they would succeed. A joint director of IB involved in the spot case would soon be sacked for ‘unauthorized and clandestine’ meetings with CIA station chief in Delhi would indicate that the IB was indeed compromised, a matter on which Satish Dhawan, U V Rao, T N Seshan would write open letter to the Prime Minister citing external influence in ISRO’s functioning was a matter of grave national urgency. Perhaps it is only befitting that more recently Russian interference in American elections have been confirmed, finally karma catching up and reaping what the US had sown to other countries.

The Kerala government in 2018 would give Nambi Narayanan Rs 1.3 Cr as compensation after the supreme court would instruct the govt to pay Rs 50 lakhs as compensation for the loss of his fundamental right to live with dignity and self-respect. He would receive the Padma Bhushan award (third highest civilian award) in 2019. Though these gestures as positive as they seem feel hollow considering the fact that ISRO’s cryogenic ambitions suffered a huge blow and the instruments of the botched investigation have all almost walked scot-free while a scientist and patriot suffered irreparable damage to his ambition and personal life with his family. What could have been another Wings of Fire from who should have been the father of our cryogenic rocket is now an account of how he was robbed of his future and his vision for the country, while waging a lone battle to bring the perpetrators to justice.