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Varsha Bhosle

The Establishment strikes back!

In case anyone wondered about my absconding from Rediff last week, here's why: Bhosle had been in the darkest pits of Hell and Depression. The immediate reason? Fellow fundies will weep and wail at the injustice of it all, while secularists and pinkos should, naturally, rejoice: For, the nation is, indeed, much safer -- now that Bhosle has resigned from the only newspaper that carried her volatile weekly column...

Although it may not make much sense to netters -- since they may not be in daily touch with the venerable Times of India, I still reproduce here the reason for my drastic step. What happened was, my article was rejected by The Sunday Observer because an attack on the ToI and Bennett & Coleman's chairman, Ashok Jain, was thought not to be in good form...

Now, it's not uncommon for articles to be rejected -- indeed, I've gone through the abasement before. Unfortunately, this time, I couldn't think of a single reason to justify a compromise. *You* tell me if I did the right thing - "right" as in -wing, too :)

TITLE: The Deceitful Lady of Bori Bandar

Although every experienced media person will tell you otherwise, you know and I know that our greatest turn-on is Indian politics. We may not like what's happening, we may not even exercise that vote, but when it comes to political information, we simply lap it up.

And it's not just the literate. Even the great unwashed masses (who, by all logic, should be elsewhere making those notorious two ends meet), walk many dusty miles to catch a glimpse of an Atal Bihari Vajpayee or a Priyanka Vadra. That's politics...

Perhaps I'm projecting my own interest onto the people... Very many have tried to move me to the colour pages: Some thought I had more to contribute to film, food and culture. Some felt I needed to develop other facets of my personality. Others thought I should "touch" people and acquire humanism. But, almost all thought the nation would be safer without my views...

'Twas no use. You smell one garlic, you've smelled them all; how much passion can one put in a baked potato or a Sunny Deol, anyway? Yes, many do it -- and do it extremely well. But there must be some reason why the print media is spilling over with political commentators, no? That reason is: you, the reader. And me, also the reader.

Which is why I've been mulling over the venerable Times of India... This is pre-poll time, right? Here's the Bihari Bandicoot announcing Sonia as PM, there's Thackeray shimmying up to minorities... And what The Decrepit Lady of Bori Bandar is fixated on is the "human rights" of a Prabhakar Mehta who has allegedly been assaulted by the Enforcement Directorate...

On the day of writing (29 January), there are no less than SEVEN items on the supposed torture of Mr Mehta at the hands of the ED. And, this is the third day running that the news is splashed on the front page. Now all I am waiting for is the Speaking Tree (a ToI column with a philosophical bent -- Ed) to shed a few leaves on the philosophy of torture...

What makes me laugh is that in the front page lead on the ED's alleged brutalities (written by no less a personage than the chief of bureau), the word "alleged" -- automatically used in all reports of unproved attacks -- does not appear anywhere. The case has been signed, sealed and delivered by the ToI.

The most astounding feature is that the ToI has actually acknowledged the existence of another Indian daily! On page 3, that all-important 'city' space, it has "reproduced with permission" an ED-torture-related item published by Mid-Day! Oh my gawd, Mid-Day exists! The Times of India has recognised it! Thunder... lightning....

I mean, this is the newspaper which routinely prints extracts from other papers -- and accredits it as "a columnist in a national paper" (or words to this effect). Nameless columnist and nameless newspaper... And suddenly, now that Bennett & Coleman director Ashok Jain is in FERA's hot waters -- a sympathetic Mid-Day exists. Hahahaha...

Frankly, I haven't really kept up with the Ashok Jain case: To me, it was just one of those interminable corruption cases where not a charge is likely to be proved, where lots of public monies gets flushed down the bureaucratic loo, and which is promptly forgotten by the public. In a nutshell, Ashok Jain is accused of two FERA violations, one of 1.25 million dollars, the other of 11.2 million dollars.

I first learnt of it on 6 May, 1997, when The Indian Express reported that a public interest petition, filed by the People's Union of Civil Liberties, accused the government of interfering in the investigation of FERA violations by Ashok Jain. The Supreme Court bench, comprising Chief Justice J S Verma, Justice S P Bharucha and Justice Sen, asked amicus curiae Anil Divan to determine whether PUCL's petition could be clubbed with the Jain hawala case.

A week later, The Free Press Journal had a highly interesting story about Sitaram Kesri's secret bank account abroad: "Kesri is also having to explain how and from whom in Germany did the (Congress) party receive Rs 3 crores in foreign exchange... While The Times of India owner, Ashok Jain, is facing flak in a couple of hawala cases, his younger brother, Alok, is being investigated for having allegedly salted away a small fortune in secret bank accounts abroad. Investigators hit pay dirt when they found that Alok Jain had opened an account in the name of Kesri in a London branch of a well-known western bank. Worse, the application for the said account was signed by Kesri in his own hand."

By mid-June, Ashok Jain had sought anticipatory bail. He had been admitted to a Delhi hospital and had claimed that his medical condition did not permit his attendance at the ED offices. The ED decided to contest the bail application, arguing that it had the evidence to show that Jain was feigning ill-health to avoid interrogation.

Then, the Rajya Sabha got into the act. In August 1997, Sanjay Nirupam (Shiv Sena) and Gurudas Dasgupta (CPI) questioned why the UF government had allowed Ashok Jain to travel abroad, and asserted that Jain was being protected.

Which set off editorials and reports about the culpability of Mr I K Gujral. "It is the policy and high purpose of this government that Ashok Jain, Sitaram Kesri and Sonia Gandhi be protected; if they are in conflict with the law, so much the worse for the law," said The Statesman of 10 July, 1997.

On 12 November, The Indian Express reported that the Bombay high court had ordered the RBI to inspect the Times Bank owned by Bennett & Coleman Ltd: "When the Enforcement Directorate conducted a raid on the Bank of Rajasthan, documents showing hawala payment of Rs 4 crore to Jain were seized... The Directorate had refused Jain permission to travel out of India, but Jain allegedly used his influence with the then prime minister to proceed abroad on medical grounds."

After which, we come to the present "human rights" violations by the ED, those allegedly perpetrated on the accountants, bankers, etc, involved in the Ashok Jain case.

So tell me, gentle readers, is this a political affair or isn't it? Does it have ramifications on the forthcoming polls or doesn't it?

Worse, what is The Times of India doing if not diverting the focus from a straightforward corruption case (in which the caretaker government is involved), to a human rights abuse issue...?

The ToI alleged that Babulal Daluchia (another FERA accused) died due to the ED's "torture". Actually, he died eight months after the last interrogation by the ED...

The ED has been barred by a Delhi court to speak to the press about the investigation. Therefore, no matter what the ToI maintains, we can't hear the ED's side of the story.

It has never been my case that Ashok Jain is, indeed, guilty. And, as a daughter of a celebrity, I strongly oppose trials held by the media. But, this aggressive Jain-protecting campaign waged by the ToI -- in the guise of a "human rights abuse" -- is deplorable, revolting and, above all, a gross abuse of the power of the press.

The question I ask you -- the people -- is this: WHO WILL MIND THE MINDERS?

Varsha Bhosle