M. K. Narayanan

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	Shiv Shankar Menon
Personal details
Born	July 23, 1934 (1934-07-23) (age 77)
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, Kashmir insurgents and Pakistan.

Early life

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]

Career

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.

Controversy

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]

See also

• M.K.Narayanan by B.Raman
• Brijesh Mishra
• J N Dixit
• National Security Council
• National Security Advisor

References

1. ^ "Narayanan likely to be made Governor". PTINews.com. http://www.ptinews.com/news/470236_Narayanan-likely-to-be-made-Governor. 
2. ^ "Tharakan brings glory to Palakkad". Chennai, India: The Hindu. 28 January 2005. http://www.hindu.com/2005/01/28/stories/2005012812380400.htm. 
3. ^ http://ibnlive.in.com/news/wikileaks-narayanan-in-pmos-keralite-mafia/146013-3.html
4. ^ "The Palakkad connection to the N-deal". sify.com. http://sify.com/news/the-palakkad-connection-to-the-n-deal-news-national-jegxeLfjfab.html. 
5. ^ "The burial of an enquiry into a double agent". expressbuzz.com. http://www.expressbuzz.com/edition/story.aspx?Title=The+burial+of+an+enquiry+into+a+double+agent&artid=v8YD1ILv0MU=&SectionID=b7ziAYMenjw=&MainSectionID=b7ziAYMenjw=. 
6. ^ "Why did NDA keep spy scandal under wraps? asks PM’s security pointman". Indian Express. http://www.indianexpress.com/oldStory/53364/. 
7. ^ "Morale is low and expertise even lower". expressbuzz.com. http://www.expressbuzz.com/edition/story.aspx?Title=Morale+is+low+and+expertise+even+lower&artid=v0xUCVHq8Kc=&SectionID=b7ziAYMenjw=&MainSectionID=b7ziAYMenjw=&SectionName=pWehHe7IsSU=. 
8. ^ "Dead In Its Tracks". Outlook. http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?266147. 

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 Shiv Shankar Menon

Persondata
Name	Narayanan, Mayankote
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	1934
Place of birth
Date of death
Place of death