Is Jugnauth's Security Adviser The Man Who Caused Chaos In S. Lanka?

Mauritius Prime Minister Pravind Jugnauth, pressed by the opposition and former brother-in-arms Sherry Singh who accused him of allowing a cyber espionage job at Mauritius Telecom, is apparently turning the heat on his ‘security adviser‘.

Jugnauth is known for the finger-pointing game of ‘It’s not me. It’s him’ have probably scratched the wrong back when he said the spying job was done with the consent of his ‘security adviser’.

We all know who is the security adviser from India. In most cases, the security adviser from another country is paid by the country of origin of the person.

India is probably the paymaster of Mr Kumaresan Illango. Spilling the beans and putting the security adviser on target is a dangerous precedent in Mauritius.

His father, the tenacious Rambo, Sir Aneerood Jugnauth would never do such a thing, that is throw the security adviser under the bus.

These are the traits of a leader who has lost the plot and who should not be allowed to continue to run the country. But alas, he is surrounded by frogs who jumped from one political organisation to another and who have their personal interest in not wanting Jugnauth out of office.

The other reason they would not want him out is that they cannot run for the office of Prime Minister altogether, knowing that they are not capable of leading the country.

This is the state of affairs in the MSM-allies governing regime and it is very bad for the country that a divided opposition is not going to be effective against such a lot.

Security Adviser

Now, back to the security adviser. Mr Illango is a hero in the Indian intelligence circles. He is outspoken according to reports and has his own mind in carrying out his duties for his country.

His mission in Sri Lanka is a tell-tale that would qualify him for the role of India’s Jason Bourne. Mind you that, on record, he is celebrated as the person who brought the pro-Chinese regime down in Sri Lanka in 2015.

Mr Ilango, an old RAW hand, was recalled from his posting as RAW’s Colombo station chief in early 2015 at the behest of the Sri Lankan government.

The government there accused him of trying to help the Opposition oust then President Mahinda Rajapaksa.

To recall, it was a bloodless coup indeed and Illango was reportedly the architect behind the fall of the all-powerful Chinese-leaning Rajapaksa.

The job was well done because, by all means, it attained two big objectives. One, it brought down an ally of China, an international foe of India. Two, the defeat of Rajapaksa brought the end of a decade of rule that opponents say had become increasingly authoritarian and marred by nepotism and corruption.

After his return to India, Illango failed in a bid to become the Indian foreign intelligence agency chief, RAW.

A newspaper in India says Ilango, a former Station Commander of India’s mission in Colombo, Sri Lanka “earned the dubious distinction of bringing disrepute to the government when he had to be recalled at the behest of the Sri Lankan government for meddling in the 2015 Presidential polls in the island nation.”

The portal says Ilango was accused by the Sri Lankan Government of backing joint candidate of the Opposition Sirisena to oust the then incumbent Rajapaksa. “It was a move that did not go down well in the political establishment of Sri Lanka.”

Ilango was ejected from Colombo after National Security Advisor for India Ajit Doval had to travel to Sri Lanka to diffuse the situation.

According to insiders, Ilango’s propensity of interfering and intervening in the elections in Sri Lanka embarrassed even Prime Minister Narendra Modi, says the portal.

Jugnauth’s game plan

In Mauritius, the scenario seems to be a bit different. Jugnauth seems to be playing the role of the dumb against the dumber.

The Prime Minister is either playing the game to get India to come out and give him unwavering support in the local political scene, or he believes that the Indians love him so much that he can reveal the intelligence secrets between Mauritius and India in the cyber espionage case and be praised for it.

But the portal mentioned above (see link above) did warn that smaller countries in the region could suspect routine activities of the Indian mission in their respective countries, “as meddling in their internal affairs” which in turn can adversely hit Indian interests and bring repeated embarrassment to New Delhi. Mauritius has fallen in this category with cyber espionage.

Having said that, there is no way to know whether the Indians are playing a game of throne with Jugnauth. They are letting him loose, and allowing him to make mistakes that will be the cause of his own downfall.

Jugnauth is obviously using the old game played by Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam, former PM of Mauritius, who in his last days started to blame officials and other party leaders for his government’s failings.

The Indian Quagmire

On top of that, there is news that New Delhi is preparing for a leadership tussle soon. Amit Shah, the Home Minister, and Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh — Yogi Adityanath are rolling the dice.

The massive campaign against Modi that is ongoing in Tamil Nadu calling for Modi to ‘Go Home’ is having its effect on the BJP leadership.

The Sri Lankan debacle is adding to pressures against Modi. The Mauritius fiasco is yet another nail that could be detrimental to Modi. But Modi remains the top man in the BJP though Shah and Yogi are the ones who contributed largely to his success.

With the wind blowing in a different direction, Shah is bidding for the BJP leadership. He seems to have the tacit support of Yogi.

Both, as we said in previous articles, are not that fond of Jugnauth. Perhaps the clock is ticking…tic toc.