New Delhi: Ajit Doval, who served as the national security advisor to Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the previous National Democratic Alliance government, will continue in his role for another five years.
In addition to reappointing him, that too for five years, the prime minister has also given him cabinet rank “in recognition of his contribution in the national security domain”, according to ANI. This means Doval will be at the same level as the newly appointed minister for external affairs, S. Jaishankar, as well as home minister Amit Shah, whose domains overlap partially with the NSA’s remit.
Doval is India’s fifth NSA since the post was created by Atal Bihari Vajpayee in 1998. His predecessors are Brijesh Mishra, J.N. Dixit, M.K. Narayanan and Shivshankar Menon.
It has become the practice for the heads of the Intelligence Bureau and the Research and Analysis Wing to brief the NSA on a daily basis, even though the nodal minister for the IB is the the home minister. Whether this arrangement changes with Amit Shah now in North Block remains to be seen.
Also read: Why India Needs an NSA Who is Duly Empowered But Also Knows His Limits
Doval, an Indian Police Service officer, spent most of his career in the Intelligence Bureau, including serving as the bureau’s chief. After retirement, he aligned himself with the the Bharatiya Janata Party.
Several reports have suggested that Doval continues to maintain close to the BJP and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. In January 2018, opposition parties had alleged that the NSA broke regulations to attend a BJP election meeting.
In November 2017, The Wire had reported on how top BJP ministers in the previous Modi government serve as directors in his son Shaurya Doval’s think-tank, the India Foundation.
Since then, the ministers – including Nirmala Sitharaman – were quietly dropped from the India Foundation’s board.