Tehelka scandal: much ado but few lessons learnt (IANS SPECIAL)

By Rezaul H. Laskar, Indo-Asian News Service

New Delhi, Mar 12 (IANS) A year after a Web site shocked India with its
expose of sordid high-level corruption, the political class seems to have
learnt few lessons from the scandal that had threatened to bring down Prime
Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

A handful of army officers and bureaucrats secretly filmed by the Tehelka
Web site's investigative reporters demanding bribes, whisky and sex to
influence military deals have been punished, but politicians linked to the
scandal have escaped virtually unscathed.

When Tehelka's videotapes of politicians, army officers and bureaucrats
accepting wads of cash or coolly discussing bribes were beamed into millions
of homes, a political volcano erupted.

Even in a country where bribery is often seen as a way of life, Indians had
never seen politicians actually receive bribes and stash them away in desk
drawers. It was like a scene straight out of a bad movie.

The Vajpayee-led coalition, which took power for a second time in 1998
promising a clean government, was stunned. As a key ally walked out in
disgust, there were unprecedented political tremors.

Defence Minister George Fernandes, a confidant of the prime minister, had to
resign after his Samata Party president and friend Jaya Jaitly was
video-filmed talking to reporters about military deals and bribes at his
residence.

Jaitly also quit the leadership of the Samata Party. Another casualty was
Bangaru Laxman, president of the prime minister's Bharatiya Janata Party
(BJP), who had been handpicked by Vajpayee. He also resigned.

But after seven months in the wilderness, Fernandes is firmly back as the
head of the defence ministry. Though the BJP has refused to re-nominate
Laxman to the Rajya Sabha, Jaitly continues to influence the Samata Party.

Analysts say the establishment has glossed over most of the basic problems
thrown up the Tehelka expose, compared by many Indians to the Watergate
scandal that killed Richard Nixon's political career.

Tarun Tejpal, Tehelka's chief executive officer, is shocked by the
"brazenness of the establishment" in stonewalling the investigation into the
irregularities his daring reporters uncovered.

"This is a grim portent for everyone. It is really dangerous that those
voted to power don't seem to care for any sort of accountability and can't
even be shamed into accountability," Tejpal told IANS.

Unlike the politicians who seem to have got away, Tehelka, its executives
say, has been harassed by the powers that be.

The Justice K. Venkataswami commission, which was set up by the government
to probe the matter, has not questioned Fernandes or Laxman. Given four
months to frame its report, the commission has received two extensions even
as its working has been affected by litigation filed in courts by the Samata
Party.

The defence ministry and the armed forces, most affected by the scandal,
have acted against five army officers, including three of the rank of major
general, and three civilian officials who figured in the Tehelka tapes.

Changes were also made in the military procurement process to make it more
transparent, including the creation of a Defence Procurement Board and
withdrawal of a 12-year-old ban on involving agents in military contracts.

Despite these measures, the ghost of Tehelka continues to haunt bureaucrats
deciding military purchases.

A whopping Rs.50 billion from the defence budget for fiscal 2001-02, a
majority of it meant for buying military hardware, was returned because no
decisions were made on new purchases in the scandal's wake.

A senior army official who did not want to be named said: "The government
has simply hung out to dry all the uniformed officers who appeared on the
Tehelka tapes. No attempts have been made to remove the conditions that
allow defence purchases to be influenced."

The expose has tarnished the reputation of the BJP, which has always prided
on projecting itself as a disciplined party that was a cut above other
corruption-tainted political parties.

"The distinct character of the BJP has been eroded, and the Tehelka affair
has given a handle to the opposition to go after the BJP," said political
analyst N. Bhaskara Rao. "The people realise it is not different from other
parties. This has had an effect on recent elections to state assemblies.

"Unfortunately, the scandal has not resulted in any sort of mid-term
corrections being applied to the political system," he said.

--Indo-Asian News Service