✍ Niraj Joshi
It is always difficult to classify the degree of patriotism & devotion to the country, only a person’s deed is testimony to that.
Our Ancient history provides ample examples of lionhearts who suffered a lot and paid the price of life to remain truly patriotic. Shri Nambi Narayanan, A renowned aerospace engineer who gave cutting edge in the field of space technology when Bharat was solely dependent on solid-state fuel, was bitterly harassed and arrested in a fake case of espionage in 1994. Kerala government kept on investigating the case for their lucrative parochial advantage till the case was handed over to CBI which finally submitted a closure report and acquitted him from all allegations. But A flag-waving Patriotic lost prime years of his life to prove not guilty.
Shri Nambi Narayanan was born in undivided Bharat in the erstwhile princely state of Travancore (present-day Kanyakumari). He lost his father while pursuing his degree in Madurai, with his mother fell sick soon after. After studying mechanical engineering in Madurai. Narayanan worked as a technocrat at the Thumba Equatorial Rocket Launching Station, Thiruvananthapuram.
Later on, pursued a master’s degree in rocket propulsion from Princeton University (USA). He was offered a position at NASA with a huge paycheque but refused and returned to Bharat. While working at ISRO, he managed equipment from Scotland worth 400 million pounds without any recompense. He got adequate support from Dr. Vikram Sarabhai, whom he considered his mentor. Narayanan gained access to confidential data from a faulty French liquid propulsion system and rectified the whole system. Later on, he started working on an Bharatiya Indigenous engine based on liquid fuel replacing solid fuel, and the Final specimen was named “VIKRAM”.
Consequently, he commenced work on an engine with fuel that required storage at extremely low temperatures paved the path for the cryogenic engine. Now prospect of storing fuel in a liquified state became feasible. Shri Narayanan cracked a deal with the USSR to purchase a cryogenic engine but the malicious intent of Americans put everything compromised. Eventually the wits of Shri. Narayanan sneaks out a couple of engines from the USSR under the American’s nose.
These achievements of ISRO under Nambi Narayanan invoked enmity in global discourse and led to conspiracy and fake allegations against the eminent aerospace scientist. He was arrested on 30 November 1994 and captivated in a guesthouse in Trivandrum. It was alleged that he met Maldivian women and sold confidential rocketry secrets to Pakistan. Under traumatic interrogation by Kerala police, They coerced Shri. Narayanan to confess alleged crimes. The continuous cycle of torture and brutality caused lethal injuries and hospitalization.
Shri Narayanan was met by a CBI official P.M.Nair when the matter was transferred to CBI.
CBI investigated the matter thoroughly and interrogated two Maldivian women (Mariam and her friend) whom Shri Narayanan allegedly met. She revealed that Kerala police officers tortured and threatened them to falsely incriminate him. Afterward, CBI made out that it was a conspiracy against Bharat’s cryogenic system scientists by some powerful global powers and countries. They deliberately wanted to hinder ISRO in the field of bleeding-edge technologies and create obstacles to its growth. In the process of accusations till acquittal, Shri. Narayanan and his family went through mental, emotional, and psychological turmoil. The whole society shunned his family and treated him as a traitor. Shri. Narayanan decided to regain the reputation that he lost after the vicious events of the conspiracy. It was evident that global players never wanted to grow Bharat exponentially in science and technology, therefore they plotted against him.
Finally, that ordeal of allegations came to an end when He was proven innocent by the Supreme Court of India. He again worked for ISRO and proved sincere support in making MARS ORBITAL MISSION (MOM) successful. In 2019, he was awarded Padma Bhushan for invaluable support in the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). But the process of exoneration of Shri Nambi Narayanan agonized the whole country. A person with a golden heart, a patriotic man lost his identity to some malicious conspirators.
But the question remains unanswered… Why do all these happen? Was that a failure of our local police or judiciary? Was that a planned attempt by the Kerala state government? Bharat a rising power in the field of space and defense technology distressed countries who wanted to lead the world. It was the age of the Cold War when the whole world was divided into two camps but Bharat remained non-aligned. USSR provided plenty of support in research and development to Bharat during of 1950’s to 1980’s, It infuriated the capitalist USA camp. Intelligence agencies of the world kept watch over internal activities, especially space programs and nuclear programs. They hindered and blocked every possible development for Bharat. They have organized a nexus with the enemies of Bharat. In a broader view, Bharat was under siege and continued interference from global superpowers. The disintegration of the USSR in the early 1990s proclaimed the USA as a superpower and the world became unipolar.
In every phase of Bharat, Internal security and Organised Crime remained a perpetual concern. Enemies from inside as well as outside the borders tried to weaken the country. But our country crossed every impediment and rose as a key player in international relations. Today under the leadership of a Strong government and robust policies claimed superpower status of Bharat.
Read More : भारतीय पुरावनस्पति वैज्ञानिक बीरबल साहनी – व्यक्तित्व एवं कर्तृत्व