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Probing
the allegations "The Tehelka Tapes drew attention to two independent, although sometimes inter-related, issues. The dubious manner in which political parties are funded and the dubious means by which defence deals are struck." (March 19, 2001) The ubiquitous party fund by K K Katyal: "Just utter the two magic words 'party funds' and get away with murder. This had been the case with our political elite for decades - they sought to cover, blatantly and shamelessly, their sins in collecting huge sums by invoking the name of their party." Must we weaken all our institutions? By Harish Khare: "Unfortunately, the response from the ruling quarters to the Tehelka revelations only demonstrates how difficult it is to insulate institutions from wayward individuals. For example, till this date the unrepentant Jaya Jaitly-George Fernandes duo refuses to concede that it is wrong and unethical if defence deals get discussed in the Defence Minister's drawing room by those who have no business discussing weapon systems." (March 21, 2001) Spying for democracy by Rajeev Dhavan: "Tehelka deserves to enter our dictionary as a new word to denote a species of investigative spying for democracy. It adds a new - at times, worrying - flavour to investigative journalism. To do a `tehelka' is not just to interrogate or eavesdrop but to obtain the `truth' by electronic entrapment." FRONTLINE 'No qualms about the techniques' (Interview:) by Sukumar Muralidharan with Tarun Tejpal: "If you look at the Bangaru Laxman episode for instance, our chaps said they would go back with $30,000 the next day. Now where are we going to get that money? But assuming we had it, then we could have gone back and actually got him on tape accepting that money. But we thought at a point that we had prove n the case well enough" (March 31-April 13, 2001) The ethics of subterfuge by A G Noorani: "It is amusing to hear persons caught in the act, as it were, cry "ethics" at their exposure by the tehelka.com on March 13. The web site has proved itself." (March 31-April 13, 2001) Parties and funds by V Venkatesan: "The latest expose highlights the need to clean up and make transparent the procedures followed by political parties in receiving donations from various sources." (March 31-April 13, 2001) Probes and questions by V Venkatesan: "The setting up of an inquiry by a retired Judge of the Supreme Court into the Tehelka expose appears to be a part of the government's tactics of diversion and delay." (March 31-April 13, 2001) Defence and dissimulation by Sukumar Muralidharan: "The tehelka.com revelations and their aftermath shake up entrenched political-bureaucratic networks and conduits in New Delhi that seek to milk the governmental system to their advantage." (March 31-April 13, 2001) The political fallout by Sukumar Muralidharan and V Venkatesan: "The expose churns up the country's politics on the eve of a round of Assembly elections." (March 31-April 13, 2001) TEHELKA.COM 'Instead of lampooning tehelka, the government should express its g: "Amar Singh, national general secretary of the party, says that Indian politics will not be the same after Operation West End." (April 4, 2001) 'Peoples' organisations should capitalise on the anger generated by: "In a freewheeling interview, firebrand Narmada Bachao Andolan leader Medha Patkar gives her views on the tehelka.com exposé and her own understanding of all that is wrong with the system in the country." (April 13, 2001) Tehelka in Punjab campuses:the government is chicken: "As the Tehelka Tapes exposé unspools in Punjab, so do the earthy expletives, in the university and college campuses in the state" (April 19, 2001) 'The tehelka exposure was viewed in America in a positive light': "Tehelka.com sent a questionnaire to Prof Stephen Cohen, Senior Fellow in the Foreign Policy Studies department of The Brookings Institution, USA. He told tehelka.com that democracy requires civilian control by the politician community, but the latter is accountable only to the public. He hoped that in one way or another the Indian people will hold some politicians accountable, or more positively, elect politicians who are expert and honest in these complex security issues." (April 23, 2001) Tehelka and the art of war: "Noted environmentalist Bittu Sahgal says that tehelka.com was merely defending India by practicing the art of war, and that he would take his cue from them and would invite their enemy's enemies to help protect India's natural heritage from the dismal ones" (April 4, 2001) 'The tehelka exposé has given Vajpayee an opportunity to introspect: "Swami Agnivesh and former National Commission for Women chairperson Dr V Mohini Giri … speak passionately about corruption, the role of the masses and of people's movements in a democracy as also the political culture in India" (April 12, 2001) 'Tehelka expose shows that social conscience is not yet dead': "Justice V R Krishna Iyer, member of Constitution Review Committee, and former Supreme Court judge has been in the forefront to fight corruption in public life all throughout his illustrious career. He says the first duty of a journalist is to use all his talent and technological resource to track down the truth." (April 9, 2001) 'There cannot be a better proof than the Tehelka Tapes': "Although the Tehelka Tapes exposé were "a service to the nation", Janata Dal (United) leader Ramakrishna Hegde says Prime Minister Vajpayee was derelict in acting late." (April 13, 2001) Tehelka Tapes: starting a new movement in JNU: "Besides public meetings, the students are also planning walks to Parliament and dharnas." (April 12, 2001) 'The exposé has initiated a trend to question and ask for explanation: "Eminent personalities endorse tehelka tapes investigation" (April 9, 2001) 'India needs a very radical form of federalism': "What the Indian media is saying on the tehelka tapes." (March 15, 2001) 'The tehelka exposé has shown the way to the media': "Press council chairperson Justice P B Sawant and CPI general secretary A B Bardhan talk about the moral and electoral impact of the Tehelka Tapes expose." (April 10, 2001) Tirade against tehelka: when pots and kettles rattle by Mohan Guruswamy : "'The party with a difference' is answering charges of corruption with counter-charges - but nothing takes away the hoarse truth of the moment of greed denuded on camera." (April 23, 2001) 'Middlemen are enjoying the Vajpayee regime': "Sanjay Nirupam, Shiv Sena leader and Rajya Sabha member, in the context of Tehelka Tapes says middlemen have been having a field day all throughout under the Vajpayee government." (April 19, 2001) 'Politically, the parties indicted in the tapes should be worried': "Former Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court, Justice Rajinder Sachar, tells that from a strict legal view, the actions of tehelka.com's journalists were not merely justifiable, they were a journalistic and social imperative." (April 18, 2001) First Global: caught in a Kafkaesque nightmare by Tavleen Singh: "Nobody denies that there is corruption in defence deals, but the government that had promised to punish the guilty after tehelka's exposé is training all its mighty artillery at tehelka's financiers." (January 21, 2001) Stop doubting the veracity of the tehelka tapes by K P S Gill: "There is an evidently aggressive strategy of denial in the corridors of power based on the "evidentiary value" of the tapes and an attempt to justify the defence skulduggery by comparing it to the Bofors fiasco. But nothing detracts from the clean journalistic impulse behind the current expose." (March 14, 2001) 'Power has the tendency to corrupt and Laxman was no exception': "The Tehelka Tapes, while exposing the NDA government have, among other things, embarrassed the Sangh Parivar and its constituents, including the Swadeshi Jagran Manch (SJM). S Gurumurthy, joint-convenor of SJM, admits that the expose has battered the image of the BJP." (April 15, 2001) Awesome - till the next big thing: "Laila Tyabji looks at the effect the tehelka exposé has had on Indians; she believes that since we are caught in a culture where TV blasts out more information than is digestible, the Orissa cycloneis replaced by Kargil, then the Gujarat earthquake - and now the tehelka." (April 4, 2001) 'If the government lodged an FIR, it would have to name its own people: "Senior advocate of the Supreme Court of India and Congress Member of Parliament, Kapil Sibal speaks about the appropriate course of action for a government concerned about probity in public life in the aftermath of the Tehelka Tapes exposé." (April 11, 2001) 'This has had more impact than the Bofors': "Narasimhan Ram, editor of Frontline, is an investigative journalist who tirelessly hounded the Rajiv Gandhi government on the Bofors kickbacks issue. Ram speaks on the comparative natures of the Tehelka Tapes exposé and the Bofors investigations." (April 5, 2001) 'What we get to see on the tapes is also us': "Kanti Bajpai, national security issues expert and associate professor of disarmament studies at the Centre for International Politics, Organisation and Disarmament, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, thinks public interest in the issue is falling, despite the spectacular scale of the exposé" (April 5, 2001) 'The actions of a few corrupt officers will paralyse decisionmaking: "Former army chief, General Shankar Roy Choudhury, speaks about the repercussions of the tehelka.com expose on the army and the future of military decisionmaking…" (March 14, 2001) 'This scam has demoralised the country': "Harkishen Singh Surjeet, national general secretary of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), is an angry man today. He says that the defence scam unearthed by tehelka.com has "no precedents in the political history of India"." (March 14, 2001) A crisis is an opportunity: "Leading journalist M J Akbar on Sonia Gandhi's unseemly motives, Atal Behari Vajpayee's uncharacteristic bumbling, and the smell of fear the Tehelka Tapes evoke…" (April 22, 2001) It's the same old corruption in'the party with a difference': "For almost 20 years, Mohan Guruswamy has been in the thick of things and has seen several governments from close quarters - before he walked away from the venality of bureaucracy and politics. He comments on tehelka tapes…" (April 12, 2001) 'The tapes speak for themselves': "The Central Vigilance Commission can intervene independently," argue senior advocates while describing Fernandes' action as "unconstitutional." (March 14, 2001) Operation Tehelka Intimidation:the continuing mischief of the government: "The finks at the Intelligence Bureau and assorted government departments have been up to no good ever since the Tehelka Tapes expose broke - but it's got a bit less shameful and spectacularly more brazen over the past days, says Aniruddha Bahal, detailing several instances" (April 5, 2001) OPERATION WEST END: "In May of last year, when we finished our infamous sting into match-fixing in cricket, and tediously crafted a 92-minute investigation from two months of reporting and more than 40 hours of tape, we thoughtwe had seen the worst kind of complicated story. We had waded through corruption, sleaze, senseless greed and dirty heroes. But in no time at all, in August 2000, just months after breaking the match-fixing story, we found ourselves embarked on a story that was a grim reminder that reality is always uglier than a game." (March 13, 2001) |
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