Author: Subhash Kapila
Publication: Organiser
Date: April 15, 2001
India recently witnessed the spectacle
of Tehelka tapes that attempted to show political corruption in defence
deals. The media bigwigs in both electronic and print have gone berserk
in projecting the tapes as some extraordinary and unprecedented little
realising the immense harm it could cause to national defence preparedness
and possible loss of confidence to international investors.
It is unfortunate that even after
53 years of Independence political corruption has not come to stay. We
will have to get along with all these mess until a responsible and mature
polity emerges. But what is disturbing is that in the last couple of years,
a new phenomenon has been emerging which can best be described as "Indian
media imperialism". It has arrogated to itself the powers to set the national
agenda from national security to political and economic complexions and
policies. Indian media's adventure in these sensitive areas and some actions
call for deep sense of responsibility and sensitivity.
India's nuclear weaponization in
1998 and the Kargil war in 1999 provide two vivid examples of how this
media coverage could be harmful to the national security. The Western media's
approach which had its agenda on nuclear non-proliferation was swallowed
"hook, line and sinker" and the media here sought to project that India
was not in need of nuclear weapons. At the height of the Kargil war, ridiculous
analyses were made to explain that Indian Army was not ready yet or alive
to the threat. Media's faulty analyses on threat perceptions were proved
wrong by the breakout of the Kargil war.
The Tehelka tapes are yet another
example of a section of our media's irresponsible behaviour where national
security imperatives stand thrown out of the window for sensational gains
rather than for any crusading conviction to set things right. By itself,
the Tehelka tapes could have been dismissed as cynical attempt by an individual,
but the way the senior generation of India's media fraternity have sought
to rally round Tarun Tejpal reflects sadly on their lack of realisation
in relation to national security affairs. This is not to condone the politicians
exposed in the tapes. But to pinpoint the fact that there is hardly any
sense of guilt among the mediapersons about the morality of the operation
or the negative impact it would have on the Indian economy, its stability
or national security.
India's national security stands
endangered not by the revelation through Tehelka tapes but by the perceptions
it sought to create public in the mind of the Indian that the entire machinery
of the Indian state is rotten. It is unbelievable that in the sting operation,
the investigation team did not come across anyone who had rejected outright
the offer of wads of notes. Hence, someone who is out of the' official
or political domains should be appointed to investigate the veracity of
the Tehelka episode.
National security is not to be trifled
with or politicised. The Indian state today is engaged in tackling grave
security challenges from both within and outside. The Tehelka tapes in
terms of effect will impede all the important recouping of Kargil war attrition
of military hardware, and even normal replacements and fresh purchases
will take a back scat for a while leading to inadequate war preparedness.
The impending danger is that such
tapes may cast doubts on the decision-making apparatus and cause doubts
regarding the integrity of senior officers by rank and file. India can
get another government it can get a new breed of journalists, but it cannot
get another Indian armed force.
Was the timing of raking up this
issue deliberate? It is well known that the media was not well disposed
towards the current government for reasons best known to them. The Bofors
case was coming to a logical conclusion. The current budget was considered
progressive and beneficial to the economy. The tapes were said to be ready
by January itself. Why then the delay?
If it was to highlight the political
corruption, there was no need to subvert senior Indian Army officers by
inducements of cash and liquor. It appears that all the officers are purchasable.
Aren't the journalists too?
Had it been happened in the United
States and Britain, the Tehelka team would have been criminally prosecuted
for the production of tapes and the means they employed. Knowing fully
well that such laws do not exist in our land, the team resorted to a so-called
journalistic venture without a sense of responsibility. Their intention
and modus operandi are not legally justifiable or morally defensible.
No one questions the freedom of
the press. The press at the same time are expected to follow certain ground
rules. They cannot demonise or brutalise the entire national security apparatus
of India. It is easy to point out Tehelka chief's connections with venture
capitalists, the Board of Directors who have their own axe to grind or
the involvement of opposition politicians. One has to recall the Tehelka
chief's motivations from his own writings. In Delhi Diary column published
in Outlook, he made remarks on India's nuclear weaponization thus: "In
a swift two months the entire region has been destabilised. In no time
at all, the statesman-like finesse that characterised Indian leaders, the
Nehru-Gandhi discourse that emphasised a benign nationalism, all that has
been lost. And no one should buy the real politick pap. It is the smoke
screen the political establishment uses to conceal- illogic."
And further he said: "We suddenly
sound like a brash frisky people. not an ancient civilisation; we suddenly
sound very tinpotty like those third world countries which are full of
loud posturings, very malevolent, very unwise."
To borrow his words, the Tehelka
tapes and the Indian media's stand on these also sound "very tinpotty"
and are 'full of loud posturings, very malevolent, very unwise."
Courtesy: South Asia Analysis Group
(The contents of this paper are
the personal views of the Writer-Director)
