All lines on this route are blocked - A. Raja and 2G Special

November 03, 2010 11:01:32 PM

Chandan Mitra

Despite an open-and-shut case of massive corruption against him, Telecom Minister A Raja survives thanks to coalition ‘compulsions’

How many times will Parliament have to be stalled? How many times will The Pioneer and other media have to scream out aloud? How many times will investigative agencies have to produce watertight evidence and beg their political masters for permission to prosecute? How many times will the Prime Minister negative the appeal, like stubborn Pakistani umpires who refuse to raise their index finger against a countryman even if his middle stump has gone flying and instead, belatedly calls ‘No Ball’? This is not about IPL, but about the even more mind-boggling scam involving allotment of 2G spectrum bandwidths to competing telecom operators. This scam is estimated to have cost the exchequer between Rs 60,000 and Rs 100,000 crore. Compared to this, what the Kochi franchise has to pay ($ 333 million or Rs 1,600 crore approximately, over 10 years) for owning an IPL team is chickenfeed.

Given Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s unimpeachable record of probity even his own party leaders are dumbfounded by his palpable helplessness in acting against a Minister who is lampooned day in and day out by the Opposition and media with hard evidence of brazen corruption. It is widely known that Mr Manmohan Singh made an attempt to rid himself of this man when constituting the UPA 2 Cabinet around this time one year ago. Mr A Raja’s shenanigans had been exposed much earlier and it seemed the Prime Minister had decided to use the opportunity of restructuring his team in the wake of the Congress’s enhanced strength after the 2009 poll. Cabinet formation was delayed by at least three days apparently because Mr Singh insisted on giving the telecom portfolio back to Mr Dayanidhi Maran who held it till he fell from Mr M Karunanidhi’s grace mid-way through UPA 1, although he made a comeback after the pre-election patch-up in the Kalaingar’s family.

However, this was not to be. The wily Tamil patriarch was clear which side his bread was buttered. Since the other ‘service provider’ T Baalu — under whose stewardship highway-building came to a standstill allegedly because agreement could not be reached with contractors on adequate re-routing of funds — had been sacrificed by the DMK supremo, Mr Raja had to be given the lucrative Telecom Ministry a second time. Clearly, the sophisticated nephew, Mr Dayanidhi Maran, was not up to the requirements of the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister. Finally, the Prime Minister buckled under threats and Mr Karunanidhi had his way.

Mr Raja has been kept on a tight leash this time. He was reduced to a mere rubber stamp in the allotment process for 3G spectrum, with the Government’s man for all seasons, Mr Pranab Mukherjee, overseeing it after substantially enhancing the Telecom Minister’s attempt to undersell this too. In fact, since resuming his job at Sanchar Bhawan, the Minister has been forced to spend time only defending his shady actions of the past. Despite the controversy, Mr Raja seems to have retained enormous clout with a powerful faction of the Karunanidhi family. So much so that the ageing and ailing patriarch is being dragged out of his home and brought to Delhi to plead Mr Raja’s case.

It is unlikely that the tainted Telecom Minister will lose his job. Congressmen in the Capital say in private that two separate codes apply in the Cabinet, the Indian Penal Code for Congress Ministers and an unwritten Allied Penal Code for Ministers from allied parties like the DMK, Trinamool Congress and others. No tears have been shed for Mr Shashi Tharoor, dropped last month for his alleged misdemeanours in the IPL franchise case. He was asked to step down and rightly so since his conduct clearly amounted to misuse of office. But by the same yardstick, Mr Raja should not only have been dismissed from the Cabinet but also prosecuted under the Prevention of Corruption Act for the huge loss he caused to the exchequer. Worse, his relatives and close associates stand accused of wanton profiteering by routing kickbacks allegedly received from 2G spectrum allottees into a clutch of dubious real estate companies in collusion with surrogates of those who made windfall profits by selling off the spectrum allotted.

The figure of Rs 1,600 crore paid for the IPL Kochi franchise becomes relevant here. Mr Raja fixed the price of allotment at Rs 1,689 crore and, despite repeated warnings from all concerned, doled them out through an unheard of method for transactions of this kind — first come, first served. To ensure that bandwidths were allotted only to those with whom deals had been struck, the Telecom Ministry brought forward the last date of receiving applications by five full days! Was any more proof of wrongdoing required? Could this have happened without the Prime Minister’s knowledge? And, assuming, he came to know only after the deed was done, should Mr Manmohan Singh not have ordered cancellation of the allotments and also sacked Mr Raja forthwith? Each of the allotments was sold to foreign operators within weeks at hefty amounts, nearly 10 times the price at which they were bought by the original allottees.

Now it transpires that there were further behind-the-scene manipulations by corporate lobbyists — a story broken by The Pioneer under the headline “Tapped and Trapped” on April 28. There is no need to repeat the contents of our report, based on records of telephone conversations tapped with permission of the Home Secretary. This has now been widely reported across the media. The Pioneer’s investigation stalled both Houses of Parliament last week and the Rajya Sabha debated the issue, along with the Outlook magazine’s report on “unauthorised” tapping of many politicians’ phones. Hopefully, the Government will be put on the mat in the Lok Sabha next week. Personally though I feel the furore may still not be enough to scalp Mr Raja. The Prime Minister and Ms Sonia Gandhi are quite capable of maintaining Sphinx-like postures, while pushing forward Mr Pranab Mukherjee and Mr P Chidambaram to defend the indefensible.

The Home Minister has, in any case, virtually admitted the veracity of The Pioneer’s report. But, understandably, he cannot go beyond reaffirming that a probe is on, DoT’s offices have been raided and I-T investigations will proceed unhindered. The final call has to be taken by the Prime Minister who is extremely conscious of remaining unblemished. But can the leader remain untarnished if people get away stealing vast sums from under his nose?

A lot of hope rests on the judiciary, now that political channels appear blocked (or could the Prime Minister suddenly make an about-turn and show some much-needed resolve?) A PIL is currently being heard in the Supreme Court seeking direction to the Government to sanction Mr Raja’s prosecution. If the apex court lives up to its reputation, the tainted Minister’s days in the Cabinet may be numbered. Arguably, this will not be the last case of such brazen corruption. But his removal from office is necessary if only to deal a blow for probity in public life and serve as a warning to those who wantonly misuse power to ingratiate themselves and their political bosses.

http://www.dailypioneer.com/252967/All-lines-on-this-route-are-blocked.html