The day after the Tehelka expose I congratulated tehelka.com editor-in-chief TarunTejpal. His initiative merits praise. The sooner this discredited government goes, thebetter. But to safeguard national security the public requires the whole truth. Did theTehelka operation give us that, or just partial truth? Some awkward questions arise.
The tapes were released just after the stock exchange scams in Mumbai and Kolkata.Investigators were closing in on the market manipulators. Among those probed was ShankarSharma of Global First Stockbroking Private Ltd.
The firm is a shareholder of tehelka.com. Sharma is one of its directors. The timing ofthe Tehelka exposé could not have been better for the market manipulators. Was the timingcoincidence?
Tehelka reporter Mathew Samuel networked the operation. He said more tapes would bereleased implicating home minister Advani. Samuel said Advani received 25 per centkickbacks in the Rs 1,300 crore deal with an Israeli company (providing border fencing andcommunication systems). "The entire videotapes are in safe custody abroad."
Within hours of Samuel's statement, Tejpal contradicted him. He gave a writtenapology to Advani. He said no more tapes would be released.
Tehelka claimed that 100 hours of videotapes were shot. Only four hours were shown. Ifthe tapes get into unscrupulous hands, the remaining 96 hours could be used for blackmail.If Samuel's version is correct, even Advani is open to blackmail. Who is to bebelieved, Samuel or Tejpal? Why not make all the 100 hours available to the public? Letthe people decide.
Tehelka reporter Aniruddha Bahal said that for six months IB questioned and harassedSamuel. And yet the government was unaware of the impending exposure? Was IB harassingTehelka or monitoring it? Did IB tell Advani or keep him in the dark? Should Advani besacked, or IB officials?
R.K. Gupta and R.K. Jain sound odd on the tapes. They vomit imprecatory'information' not sought by their interlocutors. Some think it was spontaneousrambling. Bahal explained: "Jain and Gupta talked to Mathew first. Then theyreplicated these things which are on tape to me. Jain cooked up something when talking toSamuel, then he was trying to recook the story for me."
Was this rambling? Or rehearsing and reading a script? Tehelka raises questions. Weneed answers.
Opposition ain't right,
Government's all wrong,
People won't fight,
Sing a sad song.
