About a month ago, Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar, while referring to the deep state, said that this is a very serious issue, which is a threat to the democracy of the country. Some time ago in America too, newly elected President Donald Trump described the Deep State as a big threat to democracy around the world including the US. Even in the attack on Trump, the role of the deep state was being said. Is there really such a thing as the Deep State, or is it just a conspiracy theory under which governments hide their failures?
To understand the Deep State we can go back to the sixties. After the Second World War, America and Russia (then the Soviet Union) had become the biggest powers, as well as staunch enemies of each other. The cold war was continuing. Both countries were making nuclear weapons. Everyone feared that just one move and the world would be destroyed.
A small country named Cuba was trapped between Russia and America. This island country, close to the American border, was with Russia. Russia started supplying arms to it, even nuclear weapons. The US had no idea about this, until one day its spy ship took pictures of these preparations. The world’s most dangerous weapons could destroy the US at any time.
This is from October 1962, which was called the Cuban Missile Crisis. Then John F. Kennedy was the American President. Everyone expected that he would immediately order an attack on Cuba, but something else happened. As soon as he got the information, he went to a cocktail party.
In this party held in Georgetown, there were many people who, despite not being directly in the government, had the power to run or topple the government. All the power of Washington was gathered in this cocktail party. This was the deep state. Here consultation took place and Secret Power changed the whole game. The CIA constantly updated Kennedy on Soviet plans and military preparations.
A plan was made and instead of a full-scale attack on Cuba, America blockaded it. The US Navy had controlled the sea to prevent Russian ships from reaching Cuba. At the same time, backchannels were also used extensively. Intelligence talks took place and both the countries i.e. America and Russia took a step back. During this time, media networks associated with the deep state kept the public under constant belief that everything was under control.
So is the deep state a real thing?
From the example of America and Russia, it was understood that there is something which works in the instability or strength of the countries. But that is not the government, but some intelligence system, which is more powerful than the government and can make or break it.
This term was first used in Turkey. The word comes from the Turkish word Darin Develet, which means deep state. In the nineties, a road accident took place in Turkey, in which a politician, a police officer, and a mafia don were killed. After this accident, it became clear that there could be deep relationships between the country’s government, defense system and mafia. It was called Darin Devlet i.e. Deep State in the media there.
This is a power dynamic that works parallel to a democratic government and maintains its hold on power. Later, the Deep State started being talked about a lot in America, especially before Trump entered politics, he started giving such statements that his country is in danger from this intelligence power.
Talking about India, here too the deep state is allegedly engaged in its conspiracies. Raising the issue, BJP MP Sudhanshu Trivedi said that ever since the country has emerged as a diplomatic power, the interference of foreign powers has secretly increased within the country. During this allegation, the name of controversial American businessman George Soros also came up, who is allegedly secretly funding to bring instability in many countries including India.
This power has been talked about many times even in ancient times. For example, during the Emergency, many unelected people allegedly interfered directly in political decisions. Similarly, during the farmers protest in 2020, it was believed that the movement received huge funding from foreign agencies so that they could shake the current government. NGOs were working as a bridge for this, who were fueling the movement by taking money. Although no concrete evidence was ever found behind such a theory, it was believed that the country was being targeted by the Deep State so that it could be weakened diplomatically and economically.
An example of the Deep State is foreign interference in the domestic elections held in countries. Almost every country kept alleging that foreign power was interfering in its elections. America attacked Russia and Russia attacked America. Bangladesh had even accused India of winning the elections by supporting Sheikh Hasina.
In India too, the mention of deep state kept coming up in the Lok Sabha elections. The allegations of election interference are also true to some extent. In fact, all countries want that other countries, especially neighboring countries, should have a government for their benefit. For this they try to influence the elections in many ways. This work is not easy and obviously it requires huge funding which comes from outside. This funding is used by those forces who want instability in the country. This means that the deep state is not just a conspiracy theory, even if it cannot be proven.