Indian government accused of trying to kill Sikh activists in U.S.

Amna Nawaz:

India has increasingly seen its stature grow on the world stage.

Led by populist Hindu Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the world's biggest democracy has grown its economy and its geopolitical influence. But an investigation by The Washington Post adds new evidence to allegations that India is also trying to murder some of its critics, even on American soil.

William Brangham has more.

William Brangham:

According to The Post, on the eve of Modi's first state visit to America, members of his government spy agency were plotting to kill an American citizen in New York.

Sikh separatist leader Gurpatwant Singh Pannun has been highly critical of Modi's government. And while the plot against him was foiled by U.S. law enforcement, it's opened a window into just how audacious the Indian government is becoming.

Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter Greg Miller helped break this story, and he joins us now from London.

Greg, thank you so much for being here.

Could you just tell us a little bit more about this plot? Who were the plotters? And tell us a little bit more about who they were targeting.

Greg Miller, National Security Correspondent, The Washington Post:

So the plotters are operatives within the Indian intelligence service, its spy agency, which is known as the Research and Analysis Wing. Of course, the spy agency is very closely controlled by Modi and his inner circle and national security advisers.

So the targets are part of a broader community, religious community of Sikhs, who are regarded by the Modi government as a threat, as a — as disloyal, as enemies of the sort of Hindu nationalist state that Modi is focused on building.

So the two targets that we spent our story focused on were kind of leaders of an effort to revive a largely dormant campaign to create a separate state, a separate place for Sikhs in Northern India. This was something that sort of traces back to the 1980s, when there was a lot of the — many thousands of people were killed, but sort of went quiet for many decades since then, but has flared back up since Modi came to power.

William Brangham:

The idea of a foreign government attempting to kill a U.S. citizen on U.S. soil, I mean, the — I used the word audacity. Does that seem like the right word to you? How did they feel that they could and should pull off such a thing?

Greg Miller:

Audacity is probably an understatement here.

It's remarkably brazen for the Indian government to, one, sort of set a plot like this in motion anywhere, let alone one that was supposed to unfold in the United States, which has some of the largest and most effective security and surveillance agencies in the world.

Part of it is India seeing itself as a rising power in a new era of global competition, entitled to carry out operations it sees other governments as having been doing for many, many years. But at the same time, in this case, the attempt included lots of — lots of really hard-to-understand mistakes, tradecraft blunders that contributed to the failure, thankfully, of this operation.

William Brangham:

Your report details how one official close to Modi likely knew and of — knew of and/or sanctioned this operation. What does your reporting tell about how high this goes?

Greg Miller:

Yes, I think that this is a really important question. And I don't think that there are terribly clear answers. We spent a lot of time interviewing U.S. officials, Indian sources, Western — other officials in Western governments.

And so I think that there is — as we say in the story, U.S. spy agencies have assessed that Modi's national security adviser was probably aware of these operations, if not — if he hadn't sanctioned them. But the agencies are much more confident that the head of India's spy service, somebody named Samant Goel, was — had actually authorized these operations.

So, if that's accurate, these go very close to the inner core of Modi's inner circle.

William Brangham:

How has the U.S. responded to this? I mean, your report lays out this — the tension that the Biden administration has of wanting to cultivate India as a growing power, as a negotiating partner, but also seemingly quite alarmed at this brazen attempt at an assassination U.S. soil.

Greg Miller:

This was a nightmare situation for the Biden administration, because, on the one hand, you have a very grave violation of American sovereignty.

You have a foreign government plotting to kill a Sikh activist, but somebody who is a U.S. citizen on U.S. soil. And, at the same time, this plot is traced to a country that the Biden administration has spent three years trying to build closer ties with, largely because of a concern about China.

And, as I said, this sort of shifting geopolitical order has given India increased leverage in its relationship with the United States. And so you end up with a situation where literally, at the same time the Biden administration is welcoming the Indian prime minister to the White House in an event that's designed to sort of cement closer ties, the Indian spy agency is secretly issuing final instructions for an assassination that's supposed to happen only a few hundred miles away in New York City.

William Brangham:

Greg Miller of The Washington Post, really tremendous piece of reporting. Thank you so much for being here.

Greg Miller:

Thanks so much for having me.