[Reader-list] More on Niira Radia

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Our Lasting Shame
Of Scandals That Tell Us How Far We Have Slid
Ravindra Kumar

To believe in something and not to live it, is dishonest ~ Mahatma Gandhi.

IT must be galling for the Prime Minister to realise that, contrary to
popular belief, it was two women ~ neither of them holding a Constitutional
post ~ who decided policy in his Government until the other day. And if Dr
Manmohan Singh subscribes to Gandhian values of integrity, it must be even
more galling to realise that by the Mahatma¹s lights, he may actually be a
dishonest man.
When Gandhi said that ³non-cooperation with evil is as much a duty as is
cooperation with good², he had sounded a note of caution for everyone in
public life. As the head of a Congress-led government, Dr Singh is bound
more by the Gandhian edict than others. And as a man who wears integrity on
his sleeve the Prime Minister must by now be aware that he heads a
government whose members ~ some of them at least ~ wallow in sleaze,
subordinate national interest to commercial interests, and obtain private
recompense for acts in the public domain.
By continuing to head this government, and to live with the corruption that
is part of its basic structure, for nearly seven years now, Dr. Singh
establishes one of two things ~ his complicity or his negligence. In either
event, he cannot evade responsibility for the mess India finds itself in
after the Nira Radia and IPL revelations, to name just two recent scandals.
Three aspects
There are at least three aspects to the Radia case, as disclosed in a
section of the media and especially by the top secret report of the
Director-General (Investigations) of the Income-Tax department reproduced in
this newspaper that cause grave concern, especially when the report is read
in light of facts that ought to be in the public domain.
First, that corporate India ~ the Tatas, the Ambanis, Unitech, Bharti Airtel
~ seems to be deeply involved in subverting public policy for private gain,
possibly on a scale far bigger than in the past.
On 29 April, the Tata group issued a statement that said: ³The Tata group
has had a long and fruitful association with Vaishnavi Corporate
Communications and its Chairperson Ms Nira Radia, which has added
substantial value to the group's communications and public perception. All
of Vaishnavi's interactions with the Government on behalf of the Tata group
have been related to seeking a level playing field and equity in areas where
vested interests have caused distortions or aberrations in policy. Further
Vaishnavi's interactions with the Government on behalf of the Tata group,
have, in keeping with Tata values, never involved payouts or seeking undue
favors.²
In sharp contrast, the report of the DGI describes phone conversations that
cover areas as diverse as (i) construction of a building in Chennai in
association with a member of Mr M Karunanidhi¹s family; (ii) a move to
prevent the appointment of Mr. Dayanidhi Maran as Telecom minister; (iii)
extension of a mining lease in Jharkhand through the Governor of the state,
and (iv) ³media and political environment management² for the Singur project
in West Bengal. It is possible Ms Radia exceeded the brief given to her by
the Tatas, but the investigation report clearly shows that she was not
aiming to create either a ³level playing field² or counter ³distortions or
aberrations in policy², as the Tata group would have us believe.
A curious aspect of the Tata-Radia connection in West Bengal is that in the
process of creating a so-called level playing field, the lobbyist managed
not just to establish contacts with senior CPI-M leaders such as Nirupam Sen
and Prakash Karat, but also took on as clients the West Bengal government,
the West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation (both active players in
the Singur affair) and the Information Technology department of the state
government.
But possible conflict of interest ~ as between WBIDC and Tata Motors over
Singur ~ appears not to have bothered any of the players, and certainly not
Ms Radia. The D-G¹s report highlights another conflict of interest that
ought to be of interest to West Bengal.
The report describes Ms Radia¹s efforts to assist Reliance in its bid to
acquire Haldia Petrochemicals and the need to ³handle² Purnendu Chatterjee,
the promoter of the company. What the report does not tell us is that while
one of her companies ~ Neosis Strategic Consultant ~ has Reliance as a
client, another of her companies, Vaishnavi Corporate Communications, lists
Haldia Petrochemicals among its clients. Or that several of her clients at
one time ~ Haldia Petrochemicals, Government of West Bengal and WBIDC ~ have
been locked in a dispute before the Supreme Court!
On behalf of Reliance, Ms Radia is alleged to have (i) attempted to foist
people favourable to the company on the pipeline regulatory agency; (ii)
attempted to contain damage that may be caused by an inquiry involving Rs
53,000 crore and asset stripping; (iii) deflect an RBI circular involving
alleged lapses by RIL; (iv) lobbied the Finance ministry to ensure a 7-year
tax holiday for Reliance Gas; (v) organized an  NGO to file PILs against the
Anil Ambani group, (vi) facilitated a special audit into rival Reliance
Communications, and (vii) arranged control of a television channel, NewsX.
On behalf of Bharti, Ms Radia is alleged to have offered to help Mr Sunil
Bharti Mittal to mend fences with the Telecom minister for a fee, using
socialite, advertising man and occasional agony aunt, Suhel Seth, as a link.
On behalf of Unitech, Ms Radia is alleged to have managed policy changes to
ensure a telecom licence to Unitech Wireless, handled and facilitated
cross-border transfer of funds, arranged sale of equity in Unitech¹s telecom
venture, worked with the promoter to convince Government that no windfall
gains had accrued to Unitech, and arranged ³accommodation entries² under the
guise of purchasing computer software to take out cash and suppress income.
Role of the media
THE second aspect of the Radia investigation is the role of the media, and
one that the report only touches on. It says Ms. Radia¹s ³modus operandi
also involve (sic) giving favours to journalists through giving expensive
gifts such as cars, and holidays². Did this really happen? If so, who were
the beneficiaries? Were they from newspapers or television, or both?
Clearly, they must have been in positions of influence to merit gifts of
cars. While the investigation report is silent, perhaps it is necessary for
every senior journalist and editor to make public the extent of his or her
connection with Ms Radia, to ensure that all of us aren¹t tarred with the
brush of suspicion and innuendo. Let¹s make it a point to read all signed
columns and watch all hosted shows carefully.
The role of the media is important because the DGI¹s report makes it clear
that l¹affaire Radia is not confined to telecom licences or to Mr A Raja.
There are several other aspects to the matter ~ and they go to the core of
corporate governance, of lobbying the Government, and of the manner in which
news is reported. Readers and viewers would be entitled to ask if sections
of the media aren¹t being selective in confining their attention to the
telecom mess, and to ask why there isn¹t similar interest in the role played
by big business in manipulating policy. Is it because these corporate
entities are advertisers and because they are suspected to use their
advertising budgets selectively?
A third ~ and critical ~ aspect of the Radia affair, indeed of all recent
scandals, is that all of us ~ cutting across artificial divisions of party
and ideology, profession and trade, persons public and private ~ seem to be
touched by corruption, some by participating in it and others by
acquiescing. When we gather on 15 August this year, at the Red Fort and
elsewhere, let us mark the celebration of freedom by hanging our heads in
shame. Let the Prime Minister be the first to do so. And when we do raise
our heads, let it be with a resolve to be honest for at least that one day ~
and thus solve 1/365th of the problem. No doubt, we will be helped in our
resolve by the fact that it is a public and government holiday!
The writer is Editor, The Statesman