New Delhi, Aug 5 (IANS): From the Golden Temple operation to secret missions in the northeast, National Security Adviser Ajit Doval has many credits to his name. But at present, a decade-old picture of Ajit Doval is going viral, in which he is seen interacting with former Prime Minister late Rajiv Gandhi. People from different walks of life are expressing their feelings about the picture.

It is being said that this picture is from 1988. In the very old picture, Doval is seen talking to the then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi on some issue. The former IB director M.K. Narayanan is also seen in the picture. It is said that at that time Ajit Doval was Operational Director in the Intelligence Bureau. Another theory is that this picture dates back to Operation Black Thunder that happened in Amritsar at that time.

Ajit Doval headed the operations wing of the IB for a decade, besides being the founding chairman of the Multi Agency Centre. He was trained by India's third National Security Advisor M.K. Narayanan in counter-terrorism operations. It is said that this picture is from the same time, when Operation Black Thunder was being planned.

In 1988, Ajit Doval had gathered important information by entering the Golden Temple before Operation Black Thunder. During that operation some terrorists captured the Golden Temple. Then Ajit Doval had entered inside as a rickshaw driver and had gathered information by misleading the terrorists. On the basis of this information, a commando operation was conducted later and the terrorists were killed.

Ajit Doval joined the Indian Police Service in 1968. Since then he has actively participated in anti-militant operations in Punjab and Mizoram. After this, Doval came to be called India's James Bond. Be it an issue of the country or abroad, the case of Delhi riots or the China border dispute, he remains active everywhere.

Ajit Doval is considered close to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah. In such intelligence operations, senior officials report directly to the Prime Minister and the Home Minister. Even during the tenure of the Congress, Doval had carried out many big operations. In such a situation, it is believed that some similar mission is being discussed in this picture with Rajiv Gandhi.