Prism Me a Lie Tell Me A Truth: Tehelka as Metaphor

Madhu Trehan

Description

In March 2001, the website Tehelka broke Operation West End, the biggest undercover news story in Indian journalism. Using spycams and masquerading as arms dealers, Tehelka's reporters infiltrated the Indian government, bribed army officers, gave money to the president of the ruling party and the defence minister's close colleague right in the defence minister's residence. This eventually forced both the ministers'resignations. In a rigorously researched and searing authentic account of the Tehelka expose and its aftermath, Madhu Trehan does a forensic study of the imperatives at the root of it, the characters and heroes and villains of the story, and of how the system got back: by obfuscating, by attempting to destroy the investors without leaving any footprints. In the style of Rashomon, the story is related by numerous participants of the same incidents and, of course, none of the stories tally. With exhaustive personal interviews, this is a must-read for anybody who wants to understand modern India - or even better, modern international journalism.

Sujets

• Media Studies
• Social Science
• Modern
• Sociologie, société et politique
• Tarun Tejpal (journalist)
• Modern history
• Confidence trick
• Politics
• Journalism
• Economics
• Tehelka
• Scandal
• India
• Obermodern-Zutzendorf
• Scam
• Corruption

Informations

• Publié par: Roli Books
• Date de parution: 06 avril 2011
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9788174369505
• Langue: English

Extrait

PRISM ME A LIE TELL ME A TRUTH TEHELKA AS METAPHOR
Madhu Trehan
For the four young people who give me the best gift in the world: each time I hear the sound Ma!
For the man who has given me the second best gift in the world: interesting times.



Lotus Collection
Madhu Trehan 2009
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission of the publisher.
First published in 2009 The Lotus Collection An imprint of Roli Books Pvt. Ltd. M-75, G.K. II Market, New Delhi 110 048 Phones: ++ 91 (011) 40682000 Fax: ++ 91 (011) 2921 7185 E-mail: [e-mail] Website: www.rolibooks.com Also at Bangalore, Chennai, Jaipur, Kolkata, Mumbai Varanasi
Cover design: Supriya Saran
ISBN: 978-81-7436-580-4
Typeset in Myriad Pro by Roli Books Pvt. Ltd. and printed at Saurabh Printers Pvt Ltd, New Delhi.
Our only possible hope
For the young people of India Remember, if it wasn t for the battle The couch would make you into a potato Seize the magic of the struggle
-
Be the change that you want to see in the world.
- Mahatma Gandhi
OTHER LOTUS TITLES:
Ajit Bhattacharjea
Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah: Tragic Hero of Kashmir
Adi B. Hakim, Rustom
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B. Bhumgara Jal P. Bapasola

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Icons: Men Women Who Shaped Today s India
Aitzaz Ahsan
The Indus Saga: The Making of Pakistan
Alam Srinivas
Storms in the Sea Wind: Ambani vs Ambani
Amir Mir
The True Face of Jehadis: Inside Pakistan s Terror Networks
Ashok Mitra
The Starkness of It
Bhawana Somayya
Hema Malini: The Authorised Biography
H.L.O. Garrett
The Trial of Bahadur Shah Zafar
Kuldip Nayar Asif Noorani
Tales of Two Cities
M.J. Akbar
India: The Siege Within
M.J. Akbar
Kashmir: Behind the Vale
M.J. Akbar
The Shade of Swords
M.J. Akbar
Byline
M.J. Akbar
Blood Brothers: A Family Saga
Maj. Gen. Ian Cardozo
Param Vir: Our Heroes in Battle
Maj. Gen. Ian Cardozo
The Sinking of INS Khukri: What Happened in 1971
Meghnad Desai and Aitzaz Ahsan
Divided by Democracy
Mushirul Hasan
India Partitioned. 2 Vols
Mushirul Hasan
John Company to the Republic
Mushirul Hasan
Knowledge, Power and Politics
Nayantara Sahgal (ed.)
Before Freedom: Nehru s Letters to His Sister
Nilima Lambah
A Life Across Three Continents: Recollections of a Diplomat s Wife
Psyche Abraham
From Kippers to Karimeen: A Life
Sharmishta Gooptu
Revisiting 1857: Myth, Memory, History and Boria Majumdar (eds)
Shashi Joshi
The Last Durbar
Shrabani Basu
Spy Princess: The Life of Noor Inayat Khan
Shyam Bhatia
Goodbye Shahzadi: A Political Biography
Thomas Weber
Gandhi, Gandhism and the Gandhians
V. Srinivasan
New Age Management: Philosophy from Ancient Indian Wisdom
FORTHCOMING TITLES:
Indian Express
The Prize Stories
Shashi Tharoor Shaharyar M Khan
Cricket Diplomacy
CONTENTS
Gratitude
Introduction
Characters
Trail Map of Operation West End
1. GRATE EXPECTATIONS The Breaking Story
2. KICK-ASS JOURNALISM IS BORN
3. THE CATCHER ON THE FLY
4. THE DEATH OF A SALESMAN THE BIRTH OF A JOURNALIST
5. WHO IS TARUN TEJPAL? I M A MAD PUNJABI
6. GOD OF SMALL FLINGS
7. WHY DO MEN DO WHAT THEY DO?
8. THE ERRORS OF COMEDY
9. OF GREEDY BONDAGE
10. A GREASED PASSAGE TO INDIA
11. LOCK, STOCK AND TWO SMOKING SECRETARIES
12. THUS SPAKE R.K. JAIN
13. THE SUREKA ALSO RISES
14. THE FEMININE MSTAKE
15. WHO S AFRAID OF SHAGGY (WOOLF)?
16. THE MINISTER S LAST SIGH
17. TROPIC OF CANCEROUS CORRUPTION
18. THE SCARLESS LETTER
19. ENFORCEMENT INFERNO
20. WHY THE CAGED REPORTER DOESN T SING
21. OOPS, SORRY, SORRY, SORRY
22. SPIN THE DOG: DOCTORING?
23. THE OMISSION OF INQUIRY
24. NOT SO FINE A BALANCE: ETHICS AND JOURNALISM
25. UBIQUITOUS PRESENCE OF MALICE
26. CONSPIRACY CURRY
27. THE AFTERMATH: SHATTERING HEIGHTS
28. THE UNBEARABLE LIGHTNESS OF CONSCIENCE
Index
GRATITUDE
I feel a profound sense of gratitude as I finish writing this book. I would like to thank Pramod Kapoor who understood the value of a book that was not banged off in three months with speedily researched, sensationalized material to become a cheap bestseller. He gave me the space and time to write what I believe is solid journalism and to make it feel that I am leaving something of value behind. (Is she going somewhere? Aren t we all? The boring oft-repeated pandit-at-chautha clich - Jo atha hai, voh jatha hai !) I am grateful to Priya Kapoor for being so open to ideas and bringing her energy to the project.
After almost four decades in journalism, in print, television and the web, I was given this enormous opportunity to learn and grow when Roli Books commissioned me to write on Tehelka s Operation West End. It really is the best place for a journalist to be in: to have the time and space to research, study, analyse and write. I can say with confidence that I have learnt more in the last five years than I did in ten, chasing politicians to catch one bite.
I would like to thank all the computer doctors who helped me through my computer crashes and tearful crises: Bhupinder, Rakesh Sharma, Anubhav Chawla, Deepak Mishra, Jalaj and Gurvinder Singh. I am thankful to my editor Adil Tyabji, whose marvellous, eccentric persona brought some sense of punctuation and desperate formality to the book. A huge amount of gratitude to Nandita Bhardwaj, Roli Books editor, for her stubborn meticulousness and sigh-laced patience in the face of my over- intense reactions towards missed deadlines. More than that, she reminded me of what is now being seen as the second wave of feminism. In an interview, CNN s Soledad O Brien questioned Michelle Obama about giving up her career for Barack and her children. O Brien insisted, Sometimes your career helps to define who you are. Michelle responded, It doesn t for me. What I do in my life defines me. A career is one of the many things I do in my life. I am a mother first. Where do I get my joy and my energy first and foremost? From my kids. When I boasted about how nobody in my family was back from work before 10.00 p.m., Nandita in her quiet way said, That s not what it s about. I have learnt and I agree. Thanks to Roli Books team particularly Neelam Narula and Supriya Saran. A big thanks to my transcriber Tara Kapur who was diligent and a joy to work with. To the young and bright lawyer Anjolie Singh for working so hard on my manuscript. A hug and gratitude to Mohit Gujral who put his mind in gear for me and Dilip Mehta for his bullying, my photograph and the title. To Feroze Gujral, she knows for what. To Dr Rajiv Bhasin for giving me the push to let go of the book finally. To Swapan Seth for his invaluable advice. To Dilip Cherian for his ideas, advice and wonderful supply of information about everybody and everything. To Rashna Imhasly for her contributions in the book as well as her unquantifiable personal help. To Atul Punj, Aimee and Ashok Bajaj, Reshma and Shashank Bhagat; Kavita and Hari Bhartia; Mohini Bhullar, Rtta (Gudsie) Kapur and Iftekar Chisti; Astad Deboo, Sona Jha, Pam and Raman Kapoor, Roshni, Rita and Naresh Khattar; Nila Mehta, Preeti and Rati Puri; Rajeev Sethi, Isabel Sahni, Rashme Uday Singh, Jyoti Suri, Bholi and Naveen Trehan, for always being there.
I would like to thank all the lawyers (who do not want to be mentioned), particularly, Fali Nariman, Chander Uday Singh, Diya Kapur and Shyel Trehan for their time and extremely valuable advice.
And the biggest surprise of all, my son-in-law Raoul Bajaj, who took the time to read this tome twice, mark passages and actually did a huge job of editing and critiquing the book. He also bullied my daughter Shonan to do time on the book. I want to thank Shonan for being a natural born Buddhist in her spirit and for always being there for me. I want to thank my older daughter Shyel for putting big lines through pages of my book, exclaiming, Boring! Boring! Boring! Whether I listened to her or not, is another matter. Having called me her worst client often enough, I thank her for her patience. I want to thank my son-in-law Pankaj Sahni for putting out fires. And thank you to my husband Naresh for actually breaking his norms and reading something other than medical literature. I would like to thank my father, V.V. Purie, who blessed me with his spirit, his irreverent nature and dislike for hypocrisy.
I would like to thank all my friends and family who have tolerated my neglect of them; some with understanding, some with bemusement or irritation (how can a book take so long and why waste so much time writing a book? A book? Where s the money in a book?); some with incredulity (she is just ditching because she doesn t like to go out!).
Right! When you get an assignment like this, it is the best place to be.
INTRODUCTION
Akira Kurosawa wrote about the meaning of his film Rashomon (1951) in his book Something Like an Autobiography (1982):
One day just before the shooting was to start, the three assistant directors Daiei had assigned me came to see me at the inn where I was staying. I wondered what the problem could be. It turned out that they found the script baffling and wanted me to explain it to them. Please read it again more carefully, I told them. If you read it diligently, you should be able to understand it because it was written with the intention of being comprehensible. But they wouldn t leave. We believe we have read it carefully, and we still don t understand it at all; that s why we want you to explain it to us. For their persistence I gave them this simple explanation: Human beings are unable to be honest with themselves about themselves. They cannot talk about themselves without embellishing. This script portrays such human beings - the kind who cannot survive without lies to make them feel they are better people than they really are. It even shows this sinful need for flattering falsehood going bey