Amar Bhushan’s The Zero Cost Mission: A Gripping Tale of RAW and Rivalries
Rajkumari Sharma Tankha
The book, The Zero Cost Mission/ The Wily Agent (Harper Collins India; pages 189; price Rs 250) by Amar Bhushan is a two-story fictional work. It is based on the exploits of the Indian intelligence and it is so racy that I had to finish it at one go. I just couldn’t put it down. I love thrillers, especially spy stories that talk about patriotism.
Inspired by Reality
Why this book assumes an added importance for me is because as per the author it has been inspired by true stories. I have no reason to doubt the author as Bhushan is an IPS officer who initially worked with MP Police and later with Intelligence (BSF, State Special Branch, Intelligence Bureau and Research and Analysis Wing, in that order).
Writing That Respects the Reader
Further, authors who write a book considering readers to be an intelligent tribe deserve my special respect. Bhushan is one among them.
The Zero Cost Mission
The first story, The Zero Cost Mission, is an account of a daredevil RAW operative who requests Kolkata-based, politically well-connected Bangladeshi to finance an operation (RAW has refused to give him the money for this!) that will involve targeting the anti-India Jamaat-e-Islami and its patron, the Pakistani intelligence, ISI.
Both Jamaat and the ISI are using madrasas located along the Indo-Bangladesh border to sneak terrorists into India.
What follows is chilling — bomb attacks on ISI safe house in Dhaka and Jamaat offices and madrasas (used as launching pads to infiltrate terrorists). The aftermath: Awami League comes to power, the Jamaat leader is hanged to death while those who helped the RAW operative get rehabilitated.
The Wily Agent
The Wily Agent is about the exploits of a Bangladeshi diplomat, Rehman, who is on the payroll of RAW in New Zealand. Jeevanthan, the head of the Dhaka unit of India’s external intelligence agency, transfers Rehman back to Dhaka to test his espionage skills and assess whether he can become a long-term asset for India.
Rehman proves his efficiency to his Indian bosses by providing sensitive classified information. Even when Bangladeshi counter-intelligence later captures and tortures him, he remains tight-lipped about whom he works for. A much-relieved Indian intelligence agency secretly funds his family so that they can fight the legal battle following his arrest.
Exposing the rot
The Zero Cost Mission/The Wily Agent goes beyond Indian operations in Bangladesh and exposes the rot within RAW, where less efficient seniors, driven by jealousy, subjugate and harass competent junior officers. It highlights how professional rivalries turn toxic, with seniors becoming vindictive—blocking promotions and even ruining careers.
While such a thing exists in all professions, in RAW it could be pretty dangerous as the consequences could compromise the security and safety of the country — you never know what a harassed and ‘ignored’ intelligence officer can do!
