NEW DELHI, 31 January 2004 — Tehelka.com, which rose to popularity after exposing corruption in defense deals, yesterday launched its weekly newspaper.
The newspaper is funded entirely by the founder/advance subscribers for a “ghost of an idea.”
Tehelka made a comeback even after facing severe opposition from nearly all quarters close to the ruling National Democratic Alliance government. Tehelka’s hidden camera had showed many political bigwigs accepting bribes in the name of defense deals.
Addressing a huge gathering at the newspaper launch at Siri fort auditorium here, former Union Minister for Law and Justice Ram Jethmalani called Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, a “21st century Dhtritrashtra. “While Dhritrashtra, (a character in the epic Mahabharat), was born blind by an act of providence, Vajpaee voluntarily blinded himself to the ways of his close confidants,” Jethmalani added.
He assured Tehelka’s Editor in Chief Tarun Tejpal that his period of exile was over now and the launch of the newspaper is the beginning of a new war. “More lies were uttered during the days after the Tehelka expose than “mentioned in Hitler’s Mein Kampf,” said Jethmalani.
