As kid, never knew dad was IPS: Ajit Doval’s son Shaurya

 

 

Shaurya Doval, the son of National Security Advisor and India’s most distinguished spymaster Ajit Doval, said that as a kid he never knew that his father was an IPS and was of the knowledge that he was in the foreign service. During an interaction with PTI editors, Shaurya, a BJP leader and founder of the think-tank India Foundation, said he learnt about his father’s covert operations much later in his life. “As a child, I didn’t even know that he was an IPS officer... It was much later when I came back to India,” the banker-turned-political thinker said in response to a question. He humorously added that he once questioned one of his father’s colleagues about the lack of news regarding the Intelligence Bureau’s (IB) activities compared to Pakistan’s ISI.

 

The response highlighted the secretive nature of IB’s work: “Since you do not hear anything about it, we are able to do it.” Ajit Doval, recognised as one of India’s most distinguished spymasters, is currently serving his third term as NSA, making him the first person to hold the position for more than one term. A member of the 1968 IPS batch from the Kerala cadre, Doval is also the first policeman to receive the Kirti Chakra, India’s second-highest peacetime gallantry award. Doval’s career is marked by several intelligence successes, including infiltration operations against the Mizo National Army.