KGB, Cash and Congress: BJP MP Dubey citing declassified documents demands probe into Soviet funding of 150 party MPs

BJP MP Nishikant Dubey on Monday (June 30) launched a blistering attack on the Congress party, citing explosive revelations from a declassified CIA document that details decades of covert Soviet influence over Indian politics, allegedly including direct payments to more than 150 Congress Members of Parliament. In a series of posts on X (formerly Twitter), Dubey demanded a national-level investigation into what he described as “decades of corruption, slavery, and foreign subservience” by the Congress leadership.

“Congress, Corruption, and Slavery, This is not a political party, it’s a syndicate of foreign agents,” Dubey wrote, adding, “Is this a country or a puppet of slaves, agents, and middlemen? Congress must answer. Should there not be an investigation into this even today?”

कांग्रेस,करप्सन और ग़ुलामी
1. यह अवर्गीकृत गुप्त दस्तावेज CIA का 2011 में जारी हुआ
2. इसके अनुसार स्वर्गीय कांग्रेस के बड़े नेता HKL भगत के नेतृत्व में 150 से ज़्यादा कॉंग्रेस के सांसद सोवियत रुस के पैसे पर पलते थे,रुस के लिए दलाली करते थे?
3. पत्रकारों के समूह उनके दलाल थे तथा… pic.twitter.com/ozKx9nPUCe

— Dr Nishikant Dubey (@nishikant_dubey) June 30, 2025 

What the CIA Document Reveals

The unclassified document, originally released by the CIA in 2011, outlines a deeply embedded Soviet operation in India during the Cold War era. According to the document:

1) Over 150 Congress MPs, under the leadership of the late HKL Bhagat, allegedly received direct cash payments from Soviet intelligence agencies, acting as de facto agents of the USSR.

2) The Soviets maintained a vast network in India that included journalists, bureaucrats, trade officials, and politicians, enabling them to influence India’s domestic and foreign policy at the highest levels.

3) The CIA report claims that more than 160,000 pro-Soviet articles and news items were strategically planted in Indian newspapers through a media manipulation campaign, primarily led by the Soviet Information Department.

4) At least 1,100 Soviet intelligence operatives were stationed in India at the time, an unusually high figure even for Cold War standards, with extensive operations involving the KGB and GRU.

5) The Press Trust of India, India’s largest news wire agency, was so compliant with Soviet propaganda that KGB officials reportedly referred to it as “Press TASS of India.”

Subhadra Joshi’s Alleged Foreign Funding

One of the most striking revelations concerns Subhadra Joshi, a Congress (I) candidate in the 1977 elections. According to the CIA report, Joshi received Rs 5 lakh (approximately $50,000 at the time) from East German diplomats to fund her election campaign. Though she lost the election, she was later made President of the Indo-German Forum, a move that was alleged to be a reward for her ideological loyalty.

MPs Funded in Exchange for Foreign Trips and Loyalty

The document also highlights how Soviet officials offered Congress MPs with all-expense-paid trips to the USSR. Once an MP accepted one such trip, the document says, they were typically flooded with invitations to Soviet-sponsored cultural and political events. A Congress-I MP reportedly told U.S. Embassy staff that about 150 MPs had made subsidised trips to the USSR since 1980.

Further, the Soviets targeted rising political stars, especially those doubling as businessmen with trade links to the USSR, ensuring that a portion of the trade profits would be siphoned off into party coffers or personal accounts.

‘Journalism for Hire’: 160,000 Soviet stories published in Indian Media

The scale of Soviet propaganda in Indian media was staggering. According to the CIA report, Soviet officials managed to get over 160,000 items published or replayed in Indian newspapers, many of them covertly placed through Indian journalists on Moscow’s payroll. The Soviet Embassy’s Press Section in New Delhi, reportedly a KGB front, spearheaded disinformation campaigns, including those aimed at implicating the U.S. in Indira Gandhi’s assassination.

The report also alleges covert funding for book publishing, CPI journals, and the People’s Publishing House, which was entirely owned by the Communist Party of India (CPI) and handled three-fourths of its business through discounted Soviet literature.

BJP Calls for accountability, Congress yet to respond

While the Congress party has not yet officially responded to Dubey’s allegations or the contents of the CIA report, the BJP MP said, “Congress party must be seen not as a political party but as an organised foreign infiltration unit.”

“We ask today, how did the Congress secure power for decades? Who was actually running India’s policy: Indian voters or Soviet handlers?” Dubey questioned.

Dubey’s demand for a formal inquiry has garnered support from several quarters within the BJP and among right-leaning intellectuals, many of whom have long accused the Congress of “compromising national integrity” during the Cold War.

While most of the events described in the report are over three decades old, the implications of foreign influence on India’s democratic processes could merit a Parliamentary probe or at least a white paper, especially if such links continue to influence modern political networks and institutions.