'As a child, I didn't even know that he was an IPS officer... It was much later when I came back to India'
Shaurya Doval, the son of National Security Advisor and Indis'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 Bharatiya Janata Party 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 and significant missions related to Myanmar and China.
His contributions were pivotal during Operation Black Thunder, which followed the controversial Operation Blue Star. He also played a critical role during the Indian Airlines Flight 814 hijacking incident.
Reflecting on his father's secretive career, Shaurya remarked, "I had no idea about this... It's obvious that if a super spy's children knew about his work, then what kind of super spy would he be?"
"To date, I don't know what he does; there is no culture of discussing work at home. But he asks me everything and perhaps he knows what I do," he chuckled.
Shaurya's candid remarks provided an insight into the life of the Doval family and the complexities of balancing a high-profile career in national security with family life.
US ambassador to India Eric Garcetti last year lauded Doval, calling him an "international treasure".
Highlighting Doval's humble origins as a village boy from Uttarakhand, the envoy had said, "India's NSA has not only become a national treasure but an international treasure".
Shaurya Doval, who studied at Delhi University's Hindu College holds a joint MBA Degree from London Business School and University of Chicago.
He left his plum investment banking job and went back to India in 2009 to set up the India Foundation.
"It was a good start in a country which did not have a culture of political think tanks. Commercial pursuits were not the only thing that I wanted in life so it was my little way of trying to do something for the country," he said.
Asked about how India Foundation distinguishes itself from other think tanks, Shaurya said, "Firstly, we do not claim ourselves to be neutral. It is obvious that we have a certain viewpoint about India and we go by it. How India should bring its civilisational wisdom to its policy formation? To that extent, we are different from other think tanks."
Responding to a question about India Foundation's relationship with the government and the think tank's funding model, Shaurya said, "Our relationship is not so much with the government and more with the party (BJP) and that also is an informal relationship."
"Our funding is like that of any think tank, sometimes we get it from private organisations, sometimes from government to host functions etc and we write research reports... so a bunch of things contribute to our funding," Shaurya added.
