5 min readApr 5, 2026 07:15 AM IST First published on: Apr 5, 2026 at 07:15 AM ISTFor the first time, the US Commission on International Religious Freedom, a body set up by the US Congress, has named R&AW, the government’s external intelligence wing, as a threat to religious freedom in India. R&AW has been included by the commission along with the RSS, which has been mentioned for the last several years. The Commission has, in fact, repeatedly recommended for that India be placed on the Country of Particular Concern watchlist.Incidentally, the capture of six Ukrainians and one US citizen, who travelled without the necessary government permission to Mizoram, and imported a huge consignment of drones from Europe has come as a boon to India. The foreign nationals are yet to be granted consular access and the Indian media speculates whether their mission was to train ethnic groups in the Northeast states or in the border region of Myanmar, or both. Last week, Home Minister Amit Shah said that they posed no threat and were probably passing through and were headed to Myanmar for terrorist training. Nevertheless, the Indian government could use the American, Mathew VanDyke, rumoured to be a CIA asset, as a bargaining chip for aborting the US extradition of former R&AW agent Vikash Yadav for his alleged role in the attempted murder of Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, an American-Canadian citizen in the USA. Presently, Yadav is a fugitive in India. VanDyke once claimed that he worked with Christian militia.AdvertisementDiplomatic DriftA significant shift in India’s position on the US-Iran conflict emerged after Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri called on the Iranian embassy in New Delhi and signed the condolence book for Iranian leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on March 5. Earlier the Indian government had maintained a stony silence on the death of Khamenei in an airstrike by the US-Israeli forces on February 28. Indian ambassadors, who anxiously contacted New Delhi for advice before March 5, when the Iranian consulate condolence book in their respective countries would be placed, were initially advised to stay away. Misri, who has worked as joint secretary in the PMO and has also been private secretary to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, clearly has a direct line to Modi. Following his condolence call, Indian ambassadors everywhere followed suit.Misri is seen as a possible replacement for Vinay Kwatra, India’s ambassador to the USA, whose term expires on July 14. Kwatra, who was an able and proactive translator of some of Modi’s speeches for international audiences, is viewed as being somewhat out of his depth in Washington, where networking with Trump’s inner circle requires a very different set of skills, as Pakistan has demonstrated. India’s lack of access in the Trump administration was evident from the fact that the services of our highly paid Washington lobbyist were sometimes utilised to arrange meetings between the envoy and Trump’s secretaries or Vice President J D Vance. Normally, such lobbyists are expected to influence Washington’s decision-making by enabling interactions with the President directly as well as elected members of the US Congress and Senate.Major Stumbling BlockOne cause for the Congress’s continuing decline is the absence of a political secretary or advisor to the party president. Indira Gandhi had valuable interfaces such as R K Dhawan and M L Fotedar, even if they did not have the official designation. Jitendra Prasad was political adviser to both Rajiv Gandhi and P V Narasimha Rao. Sonia Gandhi relied on Ambica Soni initially and later depended on Ahmed Patel, who worked quietly behind the scenes, placating bruised egos and giving an honest feedback to the high command of what was happening on the ground. Malikarjun Kharge took over as party president in 2022 but has been too intimidated to appoint a political secretary till now. The all-powerful Congress secretary (organisation) K C Venugopal, who has Rahul Gandhi’s ear, does not want any rival power centre even though he himself is a complete failure at his job.AdvertisementBoots on GroundChief Minister Chandrababu Naidu’s secretary Kartikeya Misra’s attitude rubs both politicians and bureaucrats the wrong way. Last month, at a function in Vijayawada, Misra lost his cool and berated two junior IAS officers publicly for not dressing appropriately. The puzzled bureaucrats explained they were togged out in full formal attire. It emerged that Misra felt that sandals were not suitable footwear and insisted that they should have worn lace-up shoes. An agitated Misra even asked the district officer his foot size. The next day, the bureaucrat received a pair of lace-up shoes couriered by Misra.