New Delhi, Jan 24 (Inditop.com) Call it pure admiration for their efficiency or a mere coincidence, but it so happens that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s last three trustworthy security advisors have been Malayalis, or Mallus as they are known in common parlance.
The appointment of former foreign secretary Shivshankar Menon as National Security Advisor (NSA) after M.K. Narayanan’s exit bears testimony to this.
Coincidentally again, all the three advisors have been Kerala Nairs. J.N. Dixit, who became NSA in Manmohan Singh’s first tenure, was born to the famous Malayalam writer Munshi Paramu Pillai. He got his surname Dixit, from his stepfather Sitaram Dixit, a freedom fighter and journalist. He died an untimely death in 2005.
In fact, New Delhi’s iron frame of bureaucracy has always been greased by Malayalis, with many at the apex of power. They include the prime minister’s Principal Secretary T.K.A. Nair, Cabinet Secretary K.M. Chandrasekhar, Secretary to President Christy Fernandes and Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao – all operating from atop Raisina Hill that has Rashtrapati Bhavan, North and South Block from where these top bureaucrats operate.
