MEDIA'S CONSPIRACY OF SILENCE

Media considers itself to be the watchdog of public interest. No issues. The role is legitimate. But, the issue is does it exclude itself? Does it mean that the watchdog cannot look within and has capacity and tenacity only to look around at the cost of ignoring the thief inside? The transparency that the media talks about is only for the government, corporate world and bureaucracy and not for itself, it seems.

“Conspiracy of silence” is the word that we often hear in the television talk shows and read in newspaper articles pointing to the inaction and indifference of the establishment in pursuing the corruption to its logical end in the recently unearthed scams like CWG swindling or the 2G spectrum scam with its historical notoriety. What about media’s “conspiracy of silence” on the Neera Radia’s tapes involving celebrity journalists, lobbyists, corporate honchos, and bureaucrats.

For the uninitiated, because there is a deliberate black-out in the mainstream media, Neera Radia is a celebrity lobbyist working for the top two industrial firms in the country and the comfort zone she has with a number of media stars, politicians and bureaucrats, as revealed in her telephonic conversation with them, is mind boggling.

The role Radia played in collusion with top mediamen and celebrity anchors in getting the Telecom portfolio for the DMK’s Andimuthu Raja in May 2009, has exposed the underbelly of these “watchdogs” of public interest and bringing out their real image as “lap dogs”. The conversations between Radia and the media stars were recorded by the Income Tax department when it was keeping a tab on the foreign exchange violations. So far, the authenticity of the tapes has not been questioned and they are also part of the material placed before the apex court.

Frankly speaking, you may ask what is new in this. Journos have been doing this for decades. Have we not heard about mediamen (mis)using their access to policy makers in the establishment for getting transfers/promotions for a price. I am sure, some of them must be lobbying for the politicians right now for a berth in the Kiran Kumar Reddy’s cabinet.
I also know of a senior journalist who is no more, who was a double agent. He was passing on info to the late Nizam and also to the Custodian K M Munshi at the time of Police Action. In a way he was impartial!! If I may use the Hyderabadi expression, some of the journos are “Pairavikars” and the appointment letter for them from the establishment or the I-card is only a password for accessing the right source for “Pairavi”. In many cases, they would only ask for letter/I card without any insistence on monetary benefits because they are made up elsewhere.

To be fair to them, they are at the very junior level and they don’t preach journalistic morality or ethics to others. They can always be pulled up or removed if the management is serious about morality.

When I talk about the managements, how can I ignore the role they played in the “Paid News” scam. Some of these managements themselves were guilty of selling their news space for a price. The entire issue was put under wraps by the very same people who were giving sermons on journalistic ethics and were donning the role of king-makers. What is more shocking and horrendous is that the Press Council of India, which is to ensure a healthy media, colluded with these media houses to whitewash the entire issue of “Paid News”. The Election Commission made some feeble attempt and nothing came out of it.

Therefore, what makes the Radia tapes something very disturbing is that the “fixers” were not lesser mortals in the profession, but people who were considered to be “icons” and most respected for their versatility and journalistic excellence on the screen or in the news columns. They are expected to set an example for the juniors in the profession and when they are found without clothes, there is alround shock and distress. What is worse is that they are defending their intimate acquaintance with the lobbyist as something part of their legitimate journalistic activity in gathering news.

The 2-G scam did not break out just yesterday. Details of the scam were known to these worthies even in 2008. When Radia was making frantic efforts to ensure that Raja got the same portfolio in 2009, did they ask a question as to why there was an attempt to push in Raja to the same slot and what was the interest of the lobbyist or her bosses. The answer would have led to a juicy news story and could have pre-empted the induction of Raja. On the contrary, they were only misusing their access to the powers-that-be for a job which had nothing to do with their profession. Is it the job of a journalist to ensure the composition of the cabinet and who gets what portfolio. Is it the legitimate function of the mediamen to act as advisers to politicians/lobbyists which many of them do even today? How ethical it is for the journos to act as “go-between” for political parties and politicians.

What is more shocking and disturbing is the cover-up. Have you noticed any independent television channel or mainstream newspaper exposing this shameful episode? Does the media have a moral leg to stand on to question the “conspiracy of silence” of the government or the Prime Minister in not taking effective and tangible action against the corrupt ministers and bureaucrats when the media itself is guilty of “conspiracy of silence”? Of course, you can’t expect the management of these channels and newspapers to crack the whip against those who violated journalistic ethics. They might use the very same journalists to lobby for their business interests. As far as I know, only an English daily from the South dropped the column of a top ranking journalist who was too willing to write what the lobbyist dictated and was ready to palm it off as his column which is the “must, must read” according to him.

We are talking about the “double standards” of political parties in fighting corruption. What about the double standards of the media? Who will expose them?

PROBITY AT THE ALTAR OF DYNASTY

What the entire nation has totally missed out while debating the unprecedented corruption on the 2-G spectrum scandal is that probity has been sacrificed for the sake of perpetuating a dynasty. Corruption is not a new phenomenon for Indians or for that matter in any society in the world. This is not to suggest that corruption, because of its prevalence for decades with complete immunity to the bribe takers and givers, has to be condoned. The point is that the 2-G scandal throws open a new angle to the scourge of corruption.

What is that? No one in his senses would attribute mala fides to the Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh. It is not that as a seasoned economist he does not understand the implications of the fraud committed on the nation and the enormity of presumptive loss to the exchequer.
Why then did he keep quiet for nearly three years? One cannot say that the officials did not bring to his notice the massive scam that was unfolding under his very nose. He himself wrote to the scamstor Raja that he should think of auction option rather than first-come-first serve criterion. He knew that Raja, emboldened by the support of “Maharaja” ignored any sane counsel from Finance and Law ministries.

Besides, four Members of Parliament wrote to him pointing out the lapses on the part of Telecom Minister which brought unimaginable losses to the nation. Arun Shourie who was the Telecom Minister in the NDA regime had concrete inside information by virtue of his past association and contacts in the ministry and promptly alerted the government. Likewise, CPM leader Sitaram Yechury, independent member of the Rajya Sabha Rajiv Chandrasekhar, and even the NDA chairperson L K Advani wrote to the Prime Minister. But deafening silence was the response.

Is the Prime Minister so uncivilized to ignore communications from people who matter? Far from it. Everyone who knows him vouches for his decent and civilized behaviour as a person and as the top executive of the nation. Why then, did he ignore all the whistle blowers?
As regards the petition of Dr Subramanian Swamy, the Supreme Court has already made its mind known to the people of this country over the PM’s inaction and the very fact that the court asked for an affidavit from the Prime Minister himself speaks volumes about the mess that the government finds itself in. We will only know next Tuesday whether there was any obfuscation of facts on the part of PMO over the Prime ministerial “inaction” when the Attorney General Goolam Vahanavati, instead of Solicitor General Gopal Subramanium, defends the Prime Minister in the apex court.

But, what cannot be denied, based on the documents in public domain so far, is that the Prime Minister did not act on the petition of Swamy for eleven months and did not apply his mind based on the evidences placed before him by Swamy. Instead, he replied to Swamy 11 months later, after the CBI started a bogus investigation filing an FIR against “unknown persons”, stating that it was “premature” for any sanction since the investigation was not over.
It cannot be said that he was unaware of the provisions of Prevention of Corruption Act, nor can it be imagined that the officials did not brief him correctly. Congress apologists may take to posturing and confuse the public that when the investigation was still on, how could the PM accord sanction for prosecution of Raja. The Supreme Court itself has called this bluff.

Let’s also not forget that the very same Prime Minister was prepared to risk his government when he could not have his way on the issue of Civil Nuclear Deal. Ultimately, bunch of political crooks had to enter the scene to salvage the government. When such was the uprightness of Dr Singh, why did he succumb to pressure in the case of Andimuthu Raja. Party men may go round and say that the PM did indeed take action when he sacked Raja. No one is so naive in this country to buy this argument. The leaked CAG report, impending Parliament session and the obiter dicta of the apex court left no other option for the PM.

But the 1.76 lakh crore question remains. What were the compelling reasons that restrained the hands of the Prime Minister, known for his high personal integrity and honesty, for two years to act against the most despicable character in public life A Raja who brazened out his heinous crime. There was only one reason. He did not get the “nod” from his boss who, as someone suggested, had “outsourced” the job of Prime Minister to Dr Singh.

Why was the UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, the real power behind the throne without any accountability, was scared of action against Raja, the blue-eyed boy of DMK supremo M Karunanidhi and a household member of his family. As insiders put it, Dr Singh was quite reluctant to take Raja into his cabinet in 2009 and because of the relentless pressure, he had to oblige. Obviously, Karunanidhi could not bring direct pressure on the PM, but the pressure was routed through the chairperson of the UPA, whose only mission has been to preserve the gaddi for the perpetuation of Nehru-Gandhi dynasty. To accomplish this political mission of her life, she was prepared to devalue all standards in public life, and cause any amount of losses to the nation’s exchequer. This selfish compulsion was euphemistically called “Coalition Dharma” by her minions. Why should we use a sanctified phrase like “Dharma” with far reaching nuances for an act that is full of “Adharma”?

Congress party is coming out with all sorts of explanations and counter charges pretending to occupy a high moral ground citing the example of Ashok Chavan and Suresh Kalmadi. The fact that a person like Kalmadi was allowed to lead India at the Asian Games in Guangho (China) when a litany of corruption charges are pending against him, bares the sheer hypocrisy of the party.The bottomline of the spectrum corruption saga of the UPA is this. DMK has proved to be an albatross on the neck of the Union government. Dayanidhi Maran “wanted the policy to be framed exactly the way he wanted”. Another minister in UPA-I T R Baalu had to be kept out because of the mess he created in his ministry. And now, it is Raja, father of all scandals.

Therefore, the Congress party, if it is to be perceived as honest, has to make it clear whether it still supports Raja and stands by the DMK inspite of the damning disclosures that are surfacing linking the DMK to the 2-G scandal. If it sticks to the alliance with the DMK, because the UPA has to be kept in tact for the princeling to succeed, one can safely conclude that both the Congress and the DMK will sink together in the deep waters of Kaveri or in the stinking Koovam river.

OBAMA'S 3-Ds - DANCE, DELIVER AND DART

We, as a country, suffer from a chronic disease which makes us “genuflect” at the slightest provocation that too when it concerned a foreign dignitary. This was well on display when the US President Barack Obama came to India on a three-day “business trip” accompanied by his wife Michelle Obama.

Take the case of Michelle Obama’s dance session with school children. Top intellectuals of the country including celebrated anchors of television channels went berserk with their unsuppressable admiration and awe over the US First Lady’s feat. Shaking a leg by Michelle was the “defining moment” for many channels and the video clips were shown repeatedly for three days. What do you expect from the First Lady of any country when their husbands are busy on endless discussions? Sitting in the hotel room and watching soaps? Some said there was no jet lag for the First Couple of the US as if they travelled in “cattle class” on a scheduled flight!
Of course, these are trivial issues. What was hailed as the “high ticket” programme of the US President was his address to the joint session of Indian Parliament. Politicians, bureaucrats, political analysts and think tanks went hysterical over the address saying it was “historic”, “fantastic” “fabulous” and all the superlatives in their vocabulary were freely in use. No doubt, Obama made politically correct noises to please his hosts. But they were all like good smelling onions. The moment you start peeling them, what remains is nothing.

Three announcements in his address pleased the Indian establishment and the public at large. One was America’s support for India’s bid to get a permanent berth in the UN Security Council. What does this really mean? Obama himself answered this question before he left for his Asian tour in search of jobs for his guys and gals. He said that the issue (UNSC seat for India) was “difficult and complicated”.

India’s bid for entry into the UNSC is atleast 20 years old. When there was talk of UNSC reforms keeping in view the changing geo-political scenario in the aftermath of World War II, India filed its caveat. No tangible action was in evidence even after the then Prime Minister PV Narasimha Rao made a forceful plea for India’s inclusion in the Council. Germany, Japan, Brazil and South Africa are also on the queue. US has already promised its support for Japan besides India.

The pertinent question is will China, a permanent member of the UNSC with veto power, fall in line. Further, nothing will be more disconcerting for Pakistan than its hostile neighbour sitting on the high table at the UNSC. No wonder, Pakistan President Zardari is leaving for China to prevail upon its benefactor not to bite the US bait. Obama is well aware of these imponderables. Well, he does not lose anything by extending US support to India knowing full well that nothing will come out of it. He has succeeded in pleasing his hosts in India when he was on the Indian soil. That is it.

The second announcement is about Pakistan which the entire nation was eagerly waiting to listen. He paraphrased the 3Ds of his generals at the Pentagon, i.e. disrupt, dismantle and destroy terrorist camps of Al Queda and Taliban in Pakistan soil. Indian establishment and people were elated.

What is the ground reality? US military personnel themselves are clueless as to how they could rein in Pakistan. Recently published book by Bob Woodward “Obama’s wars” bears enough evidence for the helplessness, or if I may use a stronger expression, impotence of the military strategists of the surviving super power of the world.

Woodward is an associate editor of the Washington Post. He shared two Pulitzer prizes for his coverage of the Watergate scandal and 9/11 terrorist attack. In this latest book, based on internal memos, classified documents, hundreds of hours of interviews, Woodward gives an inside story of how the White House works and seamless conflicts between White House and Pentagon. It also exposes how the White House officials and generals are unable to act against Pakistan though they know very well about the double game played by Pakistan.

Here are a few quotes to illustrate clueless America:

Mike McConnell is the director of National Intelligence (DNI) In his briefing to the newly elected President, he says: “It (Pakistan) was a dishonest partner of the US in the Afghanistan war. They’re living a lie...Pakistani ISI had helped the Haqqani network attack the Indian embassy in Kabul.

The book also reveals that US Vice President Joe Biden told Pakistani President that US taxpayers would not support assistance to Pakistan if the Taliban and al Qaeda continued to operate from Pakistani sanctuaries to kill US soldiers and plot attacks. Pakistan has got to stop providing safe haven. Biden also told Zardari “You can’t keep playing one side against the other. We got briefed by the CIA. The CIA thought that a lot of our intelligence was compromised by the ISI alerting the terrorist camps we were targeting for drone strikes” “Segments of the Afghan Taliban insurgency such as the Haqqani network had virtual immunity in Pakistan and al Qaeda was free to set up and run training camps”.

Bruce Riedel, a trusted confidante of Obama writes in his book, “The Search for al Qaeda” (as quoted by Woodward) that the true national security threat is Pakistan which he calls “the most dangerous country in the world today, where every nightmare of the 2lst century converges – terrorism, government instability, corruption and nuclear weapons”.

All these conversations took place immediately after Obama’s election in 2008. Two years into his Presidency, he stays where he stood at the beginning of his term. There are doubts whether he would be able to pull out of Afghanistan, as promised, by May next year without facing a virtual defeat and that is what Pakistan, US’s frontline partner in war against terror, is looking forward to. Ironically, while Obama is unable to enlist Pak support for his war in Afghanistan how is he going to help India in dismantling terrorist training camps operating against India?
The third point he made in his address was that the perpetrators of 26/11 would be brought to book. First, let his agencies share with India the full text of James Headley’s interrogation and come out with convincing reasons for not sharing intelligence with India about Headley.

The basic point is that any visiting head of state is expected to make certain friendly gestures. It is not Obama’s fault if we read too much into his statements and delude ourselves.

CONGRESS SHOULD NOT FORGET THE PEOPLE'S VERDICT ON BOFORS

The Indian National Congress may be 125 years old. But in terms of mental development, character, integrity and personality of its leaders which reached its finest form in the mid 20th century has degenerated to that of a 10-year old spoilt child today with a penchant for pointing fingers at others whenever it is found at fault rather than doing any introspection. The deliberations of the one-day session of the Congress party held recently in Delhi, which formalised the return of its President for the fourth term, is a beautiful example for this mindset.

That the party lost its moral right to talk about democracy or rule of law after the imposition of Emergency in 1975 is well known. But what the present dispensation has done is that it tried to dig deep into such a shaky foundation to ensure that inner-party democracy is buried and to morph the party into a disguised mafia gang which is looting the nation. What is the disguise over this gang? It is “aam admi”, “secularism”, “rule of law” etc. Otherwise, how do you explain that just one person nominates herself for the fourth term as the President of the party? It happens only in dictatorial regimes. Is there none in the party who can fit the bill? Nor the party has any capacity to elect members of the Congress Working Committee, which is at least notionally the highest decision making body?

The party has closed its eyes to the stinking corruption, price rise, terrorism and threats to internal and external security, as if they do not exist. What appears as reality to the party- with- blinkers is the threat of RSS with its “terror links” and its “communalism”. Perhaps, Sigmund Freud might be able to explain this psychological problem of the party. All the problems are with others, but not with itself.

The party has the audacity to say that Bofors scam has been cleared by every court in the country and in fact, the party wants to believe that it never existed in the first place. If at all, it only goes to prove that rule of law need not always triumph and it can be twisted out of shape by a government which is hell-bent on turning it on its head. But, there is a consolation for the present generation. The amount involved in Bofors was a pittance when compared with the corrupt deals of the day which will be thousand times more than that of Bofors. But what the Congress party cannot afford to forget is that those who were charged with Bofors bribe might have got away from the rule of law, but the party and its leader were given a drubbing by the people when they defeated Rajiv Gandhi at the hustings.

Whenever any wrong doing on the part of the party government is pointed out, the standard reply to brazen out such charges leaves no one to hazard a guess. “We have ordered enquiry”, “Look at the BJP’s track record” “Those who are found guilty will not be spared” “Law will take its own course”. These are the excuses.

Yes, in the case of Telecom Minister A Raja who inflicted a loss of more than one lakh crore on the nation, a CBI enquiry was ordered, no doubt. What did this puppet agency do for one year? Nothing. It registered an FIR against unnamed persons, though it had the benefit of CAG report pointing out the persons involved in the unimaginable loot of the nation. Even the apex court of the country was appalled at the dubious role played by the investigating agency at the instance of the people in power who were more interested in retaining power rather than ensuring probity in public life.

Former CVC Shanglu enquiry into the Commonwealth Games will produce a report for the record and to enable the government to deflect criticism that it has done nothing. What prevented the leadership to suspend him from the party for shaming the nation at the international level. The so-called enquiry will only help the Treasury benches in Parliament to blunt the criticism of the Opposition stating that “we ordered an enquiry, wait for its report”. For the next Parliament session, yet another scandal will break out and the CWG will be forgotten. In the meantime, you can talk about RSS terror links, Ayodhya demolition, threat of communalism to the integrity of the nation, etc.

Further, how did we deal with the people who were found to be inadequate for the job? Take the case of Vilassrao Deshmukh. His casual approach to 26/11 incurred the wrath of the nation. Was he made accountable? Yes, by shifting him to the Union government! He is in the dock today. H R Bharadwaj, permanent retainer of 10 Janpath was rejected by the people of his constituency in UP. What did we do to him. We made him the governor of Karnataka. True to his DNA, he wanted to pay his obeisance to his boss. The only way to do it, in his reckoning, is to ensure a non-BJP government in Karnataka. Unsuccessfully he engineered a crisis for the BJP government and as nemesis would have it, a Congress government in the neighbouring state was thrown into turmoil. The infamous home minister of the UPA, Shivraj Patil, was rejected by the people and he was made the Union Home Minister as if to care a damn for the people’s verdict. Where is he today is not the question, but what did he do to the nation with his gross incompetence.

Now, it is the turn of Ashok Chavan. Enquiries are ordered and we know what would be the outcome. It will only serve the party as a tool of deflection when it faces the heat in Parliament. In due course of time, he will also be given a cosy chair.

What the Congress party should remember is this. It may divert, deflect, and point finger at its political rivals in its attempt to put on a brave face. Ultimately, people will teach the party a bitter lesson when they get the chance. They have done it before for Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi and the BJP.