There has always been a spirited competition between the external intelligence agency – Research & Analysis Wing (R&AW) and the domestic intel agency – Intelligence Bureau (IB) – ever since R&AW was carved out of IB in 1968. But during the days of Samant Goel as chief of R&AW the healthy competition between the two agencies transformed into a sense of superiority in R&AW and general consensus was that the external spy agency now holds the prime spot among all intel agencies of the country.
But ever since new R&AW chief Ravi Sinha has taken over charge, the sense of superiority has turned into a spirit of camaraderie. Sinha has been hitting the right notes talking about both the sister agencies should be always working together on security front.
It also helps that Sinha and IB chief Tapan Deka are both batchmates, both belonging to 1988 batch of Indian Police Service. Though many say the real reason of new bonhomie could be the perceived downward trajectory in stock of R&AW after the so-called assassination plot of Gurpatwant Singh Pannun in the US.
