It never ends. Those obsessed with ideologies that have never stood the test of time cannot think beyond a warped thought process that makes enemies of dissent and criticism.
Intolerance that comes to overshadow the mindset comes into play as they seek to settle imagined scores, and score points which, for them, are essential for their survival and well being.
It is not the corrupt and the communal who are guilty. It is those who expose them who must be punished. The media has been subjected to the worst kind of assault, verbal and now physical, ever since the BJP-led coalition came to power.
The allies claiming to be champions of press freedom and plurality are silent, with money, rice and favours putting a heavy finger across their lips. The Opposition has promised to take up the issue but allows its shifty attention to be easily derailed as the attack on the watchdog of the Indian state continues unabated.
The arrest of Tehelka journalist Aniruddha Bahal is a case in point.
Tehelka itself is a case in point. It has now been amply demonstrated that the government, working over time to shield the guilty, has no hesitation in shooting the messenger.
The news portal has been put out of business, its investors framed and jailed, its journalists repeatedly assaulted and arrested with the state bringing into play every dirty trick in the book that now passes for governance. Laws are bent to "teach them a lesson" as the government pulls out all stops to frame the innocent and reward the guilty.
Defence minister George Fernandes remains a favourite gadfly in the Vajpayee-Advani government. A cherished member, a valuable asset, particularly, when it comes to washing the BJP's sins in public. Attacks on Christians and the old socialist picks up the BJP flag to insist that all is not what it seems.
The media is exaggerating. It is a conspiracy. The Gujarat carnage and the old trade union leader waves the BJP flag excitedly. Everything is fine, there is little to cry about. The government is sensitive and responsive.
There is no need to worry.
All the while he bemoans the fact that major defence deals have been held up because people are too scared to sign new contracts. Alas! Tehelka's disclosures have put a spoke in the big works. Or, at least these did in the initial months with defence officers and politicians, all with much to hide, hesitated to approve contracts being brought to the corridors of power by big middlemen.
It is no secret that middlemen remain very much in the defence loop, despite the many orders against them that the defence ministry claims to have passed. So now there is again a queue ? Israel, France, Russia, UK and of course, the US which is making no secret of its desire to open military avenues with India to make up for lost time.
All would have been fine except for those d___ tapes. For one, they can be played over and over again. Two, the Commission of Inquiry is taking its job a little too seriously. And three, despite the protestations and the press statements and the attack on the media, most people continue to believe in the validity of the evidence captured so vividly on camera by the Tehelka team.
Ms Jaitly standing in the defence minister's residence, doing a virtual Bangaru Laxman for the reporter posing as defence dealer. The only difference is that instead of stretching out a greedy hand, she indicated that the money should be paid to a third individual. "Doctored! Tutored!" she screamed, and for that matter, is still screaming. But again the tapes have survived her experts, and their validity is in little doubt.
It is indicative of the mindset that instead of dismissing the defence minister, the government has decided to victimise the journalists responsible for the expose.
It must be added here that unlike the petrol pump scam where the facts are recorded on paper, defence deals remain in the realm of the abstract. Money exchanges hands, crores are transferred to banks, with no records. The papers only speak of the defence purchases which are tom-tommed by the corrupt men in power as "necessary in national interests."
Obviously, the middlemen and the money they have delivered under the counter disappear into thin air, to emerge only when the next proposal is ready for consideration. Of course, now the governments actively lobby for their arms industry with defence ministers, foreign ministers and even Prime Ministers joining their middlemen to "persuade" India and her ministers about the value added value of expensive AJT combat trainers, outdated submarines, dubious Howitzer guns etcetera, etcetera. Money, as they say, makes our defence wheels go around. And how!
So it was a bombshell when Tehelka penetrated those dark and dingy corridors of corruption to capture some of the deeds on camera. It was not about political favouritism, one party above another. It was about corruption at its worst. Men and women caught in the act. A taste for the people of India about what actually happens behind those "patriotic" assertions of preserving national security even as defence budgets are increased year after year, and our powerful men (and women) seal purchases to the tune of hundreds of crores. It was a truth that hurt, and hurt bad.
So what was the remedy? The old classical: off with their heads. And from then on we have seen the worst kind of victimisation wherein each and every institution of the mighty government of India has been used to "execute" those who were only trying to do their job. Whisper campaigns, slander, accusations followed by raids, arrests, more raids, more arrests.
Finish them, wipe them out is the message to the police, to the CBI, to those who are there to protect the law, not abuse it. But this is what is happening. The law is being abused to cripple the innocent and protect the guilty while the nation watches aghast.
The media is being singled out by the government for attack. This comes in various forms. It comes through hate mail orchestrated by persons known to be very close to the ruling party at the Centre.
It comes through threats: stop this or else... It comes through slander campaigns: did you know that...? It comes through denial of information:
call him, not her. It comes through whispers of hate, of distortion, of half-truths and lies. It comes through raids. It comes through more whispers: do you know that journalist is...?
It comes through anger: the media is biased. It comes through official briefings: the journalists are not doing their job honestly. It comes through prime ministerial addresses: journalists must be more responsible. It comes through arrests: there is no need of proof, catch them first.
Iftikhar Geelani is still in jail. Two months after he was arrested. For what? The police still has to say. Not a single charge has been proved.
Some vague hints have been given about anti-national activities. But not a shred of evidence has been forthcoming. Journalists have knocked at different doors, including that of deputy prime minister L.K. Advani. But the silence has been ominous. The government has turned deaf. Its eyes see only some colours, not visible to the people of India.
Geelani is guilty. Fernandes is innocent. Tehelka is guilty. Modi is innocent. Those who set fire to the train at Godhra are guilty. Those who killed and raped in Gujarat are innocent. Christian missionaries are guilty. The VHP men who killed the priests and raped the nuns are innocent.
The media is slanderous. Ram Naik is a good man, a worthy citizen. The media is sensational. Those who accept women, wine and money as commissions and bribes are worthy citizens. The media cautioning against communal violence is anti-national. Those indulging in riots are friends of the state. The scales of justice have overturned. And it is doubtful if this dispensation can ever put them right.
