24th September 2014, India became the first country in the world to enter the orbit of Mars on its very first attempt. 15th February 2017, India became the first country to launch 104 satellites at one go. 27th March 2019 India also entered the arena of Anti-Satellite Missiles. Now, all these were milestone achievements, and today we are one of the biggest powerhouses in the world when it comes to Space Technology. But, what would be your reaction if I tell you that India could have achieved all this much earlier. And, what if I further say that the man who could have done all this was being tortured like a Traitor. This is the story of Nambi Narayan.

Scientific and Visionary 

Nambi Narayan was the first scientist to introduce liquid rocket fuel technology in India back in the 1970s. Big names like Satish Dhawan and UR Rao highly praised him. He was considered a visionary who always worked on future technologies to keep India at pace with the world. He also developed the VIKAS Engine, with the help of French assistance. As of today, Vikas Engine is a crucial part of the ISRO setup. It is used in both PSLV (Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle) technologies and GSLV (Geo-Synchronous Satelite Launch Vehicle) technologies.

Suspicion of Espionage

Everything was going just so well until October 1994, when Mariam Rasheeda was arrested. She was a Maldivian national and was arrested on charges of obtaining a secret drawing of an ISRO mission. At that time, Nambi Narayan was the director of the cryogenic engine along with Sasikumaran and K Chandrashekhar. They were also arrested along with another foreign national Fousiya Hasana. The charges that were laid on Narayan were extremely serious.

He was accused of selling the highly confidential ISRO secrets to foreign countries including PAKISTAN. Now, you know as soon as ‘Pakistan’ name appears alongside an Indian…he is no longer worthy of any sympathy. That’s exactly what happened with Narayan. He spent the next 50 days in jail, where he was brutally tortured and was even pressurized to make false claims about ISRO. But can you imagine that ISRO never for once supported its most brilliant scientist. Isn’t it just so disgraceful and blood boiling?

It was all a Hoax

Finally, in 1996, CBI presented its findings in the Kerala High Court, which clearly affirmed that this whole theory of ‘Espionage’ theory was poorly written script. In 1996, the court awarded the compensation of 1 lakh to Nambi Narayan. But, Narayan was not at all satisfied, he clearly demanded compensation for all these years of his life, that got wasted in this nonsense. He even approached the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) against the state police and IB. Supreme Court also intervened in the matter and finally on 16th September last year, announced the compensation of 50 lakh for Nambi Narayan. But, these many years of his life, can’t be compensated with any amount of money.

Was America the Villain…?????

In 1991, India led by Narayan signed an agreement with Russia. As per this, India would have been supplied with cryogenic based fuel technology at the cost of 235 crores. Now, at the same time, similar deals with France or USA would have cost 650 crores and 950 crores respectively. There should not be a doubt that this would surely have infuriated the respective countries. If we strictly look up at facts, there is a document revealing that the then US President Geoge H.W. Bush wrote to Russia. He threatened Russia to back out of this deal or the else US would have it blacklisted from the select five clubs of countries.

We have to keep in mind that the Soviet Union was getting weak at that time, and on expected lines, Russian President Boris Yeltsin backed out of the deal. India again tried to finalise a deal with Russia in 1994. Here, India was planning to float a global tender to fabricate four cryogenic technology that too without transferring any technology. Kerala Hitech Industries Limited (Keltch) was ready with the cheapest tender for fabricating engines. But, just at that time, this spy scandal broke out and the deal never happened. Mr Narayan says that if the deal would have happened properly, India would have achieved what it has achieved in space technology today, back in 1993 itself.

Nambi Narayan: We Are Sorry

First of all, I am keenly awaiting the movie based on the life of Mr Narayan ROCKETRY, which I hope will showcase the story with even precise details. So, we looked at the story were a brilliant and visionary scientist, who went through so much merely on suspicion. Not just did we ruin many years of his life and career, but also damaged our prospects in space technology. The story holds plenty of lessons for us. We need to be practical, we can’t torture someone without evidence, keeping in mind that today it happens in abundance. Also, what is even more embarrassing is the fact that we tortured foreign nationals which have hampered our global image. Lastly, we need to stop jumping whenever we hear Pakistan, here too we all know that the charges were more deeply pressed just because of the word ‘Pakistan’ in the conspiracy theory. We should appreciate how much Mr Narayan did and thought for our country. At last, I would like to apologise to Mr Nambi Narayan on the behalf of the whole country.

JAI HIND