He Left Us – A Tribute to B. Raman

The departure of the spy master who articulated meaningful debate on security in modern media

| by Nilantha Ilangamuwa

(June 18, 2013, New Delhi, Sri Lanka Guardian) News came bit late, but it is confirmed! He left us! He never remained silent! At times he was frustrating! He expressed his anger in words many times! He opposed violence! At times he was eager to earn a nationalistic image even at his retired stage. He impressed those he came across promoting nationalism. His happiness seemed to go into hiding somewhere in the ladder of life but his face always appeared before us in a deep thoughtful mood. He is an icon of personal liberty! As a writer, he never influenced anyone to change their position or view point but always attempted to express himself clearly.

Since I came to know him in 2007 he has only once maintained a long period of silence from his writing and that was from the end of last month until his departure from us on last Sunday. Bahukutumbi Raman, the man whom I have known for a long period of time was an admirable charismatic writer on security and had real affection for the Sri Lanka Guardian since it started. His contribution attracted some silly political henchmen to cultivate germs against the Sri Lanka Guardian. They claimed that the website was none other than a shadow of the Research and Analysis Wing, of an Indian external intelligence agency, which was at one time an extensively influential espionage outfit and political tool of the losers in the Subcontinent.

Bahukutumbi Raman is no more! We have lost one of our frontline writers! He never claimed that he was an expert on the subject; but others categorized him in many ways.

Mr. Raman personally influenced me in many ways and we talked often, freely sharing our feelings. At times he tweeted on my work as a journalist. He was one among the few who honestly observed my work and maintained linkage of magnitude.

During our very first meeting in Chennai he recalled his experiences when he was in Sri Lanka. “I was there not so often but occasionally had to go Sri Lanka, when the Government had special work. During the time when President Premadasa was there, I had an order for a special meeting with him. We scheduled the meeting for the day following the day I arrived in Colombo,” He said.

“I was only five minutes late, then the President informed that he was unable to meet me because he had arranged some other work,” he added while assessing that President Premadasa was a rare leader who was particular about time and had his own plans, unlike most of the other politicians in the region. He had to return to New Delhi without meeting President Premadasa.

Unfortunately the meeting I had with Mr. Bahukutumbi Raman was misinterpreted by some of the local media, especially by one editor with no dignity or respect for his profession. Like an eagle looking for a corpse from which to drag a piece of meat, that person was also eager to amass his wealth in any way he could, while engaging in nihilistic irrational assessments about others. The chat that I had with Raman was reported by the media saying that I as being a R&AW operative in Colombo and had received a special request from the R & AW to meet, Raman and other high-level officials of the agency in Chennai and New Delhi.

The day the media reported my meeting with Mr. Raman, I received many calls and emails even from some diplomats. Eventually I ignored them as utter rubbish published against me and my professional work. However the agenda behind the dirty trick was much larger than I had thought. Imagination does not always give one a real assessment of the threats from adversaries, but it makes one aware of what one has to walk through.

This is what is in our culture; when you want to destroy someone, the easiest way of eliminating him/her is by creating bitter rubbish on the person and spreading it within the community. This theory was developed by Joseph Goebbels in Germany, and today many confirm this. For example, Dr. Paul Roberts said in his column published recently, by Media prostitutes formed by corporate operators. However, my belief in myself has given me the energy to overcome the destructive emotions created by others, while working to ensure that I understand the different faces of mankind and their behaviour.

However; in our short conversation on the story created by the ugly person who ran a media outlet, Mr. B. Raman gave neither a long opinion nor explanation but being a skillful writer he simply said, “Ignore them but make sure to continue what you are doing. You are safe as long as you do not engage in wrongdoing”.

Time has passed! The man who was married to writing and later lived with his disease reserved for us many values that we all can find meaningful in many ways. For him personal difficulties were blessings to think about resulting in him articulating his thoughts into meaningful debate to benefit both sides.

“I feel happy. I feel good. But I am avoiding any feelings of exaltation. As one reaches the age of 75, the health gets into a zig-zag mode, whatever be the illness. One can never say when a zig can turn into a zag and vice versa,” he wrote in 2011.

I have no comments about his work as a spy master during the most crucial political and military periods in the region. I’m unaware of the details of that work except his account published under the title, “The Kaoboys of R&AW”. But I would like to recall here the words of late-Mr. Maloy Krishna Dhar, who was the Director of the Intelligence Bureau, expressed during the interview at his residence, couple of years ago; “Unlike most of the agents who work in Indian intelligence agencies, Raman is an extraordinary character. He never used his profession to show up his power, and he is continuing his work even after retirement.”

“There are many accounts on the R&AW, published over the last few years. But many of them were cynically exaggerated by those authors. But, “The Kaoboys of R&AW” is a real account that made a strong impact on the agency unlike others that tended to give meaningless horrific thrills to readers,” the late Maloy Krishna Dhar who has passed away last year, added.

Bahukutumbi Raman's departure leaves a vacuum which is impossible to fill even with time! Raman is Raman; no one can become a blue print of him. He carried his uniqueness along his entire journey. But there is a lot to learn from the legend that Bahukutumbi Raman has become. He is the man from an old generation who used new technology to express rare intelligentsia.