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December 9th, 2010 
Girish Nikam By Girish Nikam
Amid the growing bewilderment among all sections of the people about the succession of corruption cases tumbling out of the cupboards of the Government, one question remains an enigma, about the 2G spectrum scam. How did the admittedly and inarguably the most honest and humble Prime Minister India has seen, preside over such brazen actions of then Telecom Minister A.Raja?
The documents of the letters exchanged between Prime Minister Dr.Manmohan Singh and A.Raja, on the 2G issue, as well as the note of the Law Secretary, between Nov.1 2007 and Jan.3,2008, which we have acquired( please see the documents below), shows a distinct audacity on the part of Raja. He summarily dismisses the suggestion of then Law Minister H.R.Bharadwaj to form an Empowered Group of Ministers(EGoM), as “totally out of context”. He also brazenly tells the Prime Minister that though time was given for submitting applications till Oct.1, 2007, he will take into consideration applications of only those who have submitted it on or before Sept.25,2007, and gets away with it.
However subsequently, as Rajya Sabha MP, Rajeev Chandrashekar in his open letter to Ratan Tata ( http://www.rajeev.in/blog/?p=206) points out, Raja accepts the application of Tata Teleservices, though it is submitted on Oct.22, and ignores 343 other applications and rejects 110 others, and again gets away with it.
The furious exchange of letters on Nov.2,2007, two from Raja to Prime Minister and one from PM to Raja, indicates the seriousness of the issue. In Fact PM cautions Raja and lists out his concerns in an annexure to the letter, and says that fairness and transparency should be adopted in distributing the 2G spectrum(see the documents below).
However, on Dec.26,2007, Raja rejects all concerns, including the Prime Minister’s and in a five page letter containing three pages of annexure, he tells Dr.Manmohan Singh with a tone of finality, “since the file for issue of LOI(Letter of Intent) to all eligible applicants was approved me on Nov.2,2007, it is proposed to implement the decision without further delay and without any departure from existing guidelines”. The tone and tenor of this clear, “I won’t accept any more interference”!
And it takes over a week, on Jan.3,2008, for the Prime Minister to reply. And the reply is a timid and bland acknowledgment of the Dec.26 letter of Raja. No questions asked, no clarifications sought, no concerns raised. It was as if the Prime Minister had thrown in the towel.
Why did the Prime Minister throw in the towel, and allow Raja to have his way, though as subsequent events have proved, were to say the least, controversial, not transparent, and biased.
Was the Prime Minister afraid or worried about opening up too many fronts within the UPA? Did he succumb to the pressure of the DMK? Or was he just too occupied with something else, and had no time or inclination to pursue the 2G issue to its logical and fair end?
A study of the events that were occurring during the period when the Prime Minister exchanged letters with Raja between Nov.2, 2007 and Jan.3, 2008, gives an indication of how and where his mind was occupied. On Jan.3, when he wrote his final letter just acknowledging Raja’s letter, Sonia Gandhi was admitted to Ganga Ram Hospital with viral infection of her respiratory tract. The entire previous week, had witnessed the humiliation of Congress in the State legislative Assembly elections in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh(losing power in the latter), and BJP was upbeat and already talking of a comeback at the centre.
Meanwhile, CPI(M) stalwart, Jyoti Basu was talking in Kolkata about the revival of a third front to take on both Congress and the BJP. The Ram Sethu issue had embarrassed the UPA Government and DMK was embarrassing it further, even as the entire Sangh Parivar was up in arms, demanding that Ram Sethu be declared a national monument, by holding rallies all over, including Delhi.
However, what dominated the Prime Minister’s mind at that point of time was his pet subject, the nuclear deal. The crucial talks in Vienna at the IAEA(International Atomic Energy Agency), was scheduled from Jan.4, and hectic preparations were on in India to work out a safeguards agreement. (http://www.expressindia.com/latest-news/3rd-round-of-talks-on-safeguards-pact-with-IAEA-this-week/256416/) . For the Prime Minister who had taken on the left parties, which were staunchly opposing the US-India Nuclear deal, it had become a prestige issue and he was putting all his efforts to get the IAEA to agree to an india-specific safeguards agreement.
Just two weeks earlier on Nov.17, after protracted and tense negotiations with the left parties, Prime Minister had managed to get a go-ahead from CPI(M) General Secretary, Prakash Karat, to hold talks with the IAEA. (http://www.indianexpress.com/news/hours-after-lefts-ok-govt-tells-kakodkar-speak-to-iaea-chief/240495/0). His focus therefore was not to fritter away this window of opportunity provided to him. His attention during entire November and December was therefore completely devoted to the IAEA talks, even as the left parties kept threatening to pull out of the Government, if it went ahead with the nuclear deal. The UPA Government had been teetering on the brink(http://www.indianexpress.com/news/breakup-averted-for-now-vienna-trip-on/240202/0) for the entire November, when Raja was merrily going ahead disregarding all words of caution and concerns.
Prime Minister, meanwhile was too busy also working out alternative options , if the left parties were to withdraw support(which they subsequently did only in July 2008). It was very clear that he had already had Samajawadi party in his view to bail him out, though it did come as a surprise later to everyone(http://www.indianexpress.com/news/unpa-breaks-with-left-on-ndeal/244951/0), when Samajawadi Party did bail out the UPA Government.
However, there was no way in which the Prime Minister could not have been aware of the battle going on in the Telecom ministry with the service providers. The media was full of stories of the problems, (http://www.indianexpress.com/news/govt-to-hold-spectrum-talks-with-telcos-today…-sans-rookies/241585/0. Interestingly, on Dec.27, a day after Raja with finality told the Prime Minister that he was going ahead with his policy to allocate spectrum and issue of LOIs, S-Tel one of the companies in the fray offered a huge amount of over Rs.13,000 crore over and above the spectrum charges as revenue sharing. (http://www.indianexpress.com/news/stel-offers-rs-13-752-cr-for-panindia-spec/255103/). But Prime Minister, in his reply on Jan.3 made no mention of it, and just kept mum.
In another interesting development on Dec.13, 2007, at the India Telecom Meet organized by the FICCI, Prime Minister while speaking there, had stated, “The revenue potential to the Government must not be lost sight of. After all, governments across the globe have harnessed substantial revenues while allocating spectrum.” But Raja, talking on the sidelines of the same meet, after PM had spoken had brushed aside the suggestion of the PM, as far as 2G is concerned. “We cannot adopt the auctioning route for existing 2G spectrum due to legal barriers. But for next generation mobile services (3G), the Government has already announced a policy that frequency will be allocated on the basis of auction,”( http://www.indianexpress.com/news/raja-says-no-to-2g-spectrum-auctioning/249735/)
Again interestingly, Prime Minister who just over two weeks back, had spoken on revenue potential, did not raise the issue in his Jan.3,2008 letter, though Raja had decided to take the least revenue option.
Meanwhile, another development took place on Dec.9 and 10. Ratan Tata who had been having a running battle with the DoT(Deparment of Telecom) displayed an extra-ordinary generosity towards A.Raja, when he wrote a letter to DMK Chief and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.Karunanidhi, praising Raja, for his “rational, fair and action-oriented” leadership!( http://www.indianexpress.com/news/raja-is-rational-and-fair-tata-writes-to-dmk-chief/248496/0). The letter was also released to the media. Was this action taken under the influence of Niira Radia. It apparently seems so, as it is quite out of place for Ratan Tata, amid the controversy, should write such a letter. (It may be recalled here that Niira Radia in one of her conversations with M.K.Venu, says that she has threatened Raja that though Tata has written a wonderful letter, that doesn’t mean that he doesn’t have the right to change his mind).
However, what was more surprising, was that just the next day, Dec.10, Tatas filed a petition before TDSAT, demanding that DoT should ask GSM operators to surrender excess spectrum beyond the contracted 6.2 Mhz. (http://www.indianexpress.com/news/tata-moves-tdsat-on-spectrum/248869/0) Was this petition to help Raja prove himself to be “rational, fair and action-oriented”? Was this part of the Radia plan in tune with Raja, to corner GSM operators, including Airtel among others, after getting Ratan Tata to publicly praise him to his “leader”?
Should not have Prime Minister taken note of all these extra-ordinary happenings in public, with media full of the reports about the controversy? Was he so engrossed in his own nuclear deal battles, which he had made it into a matter of personal prestige and glory, that he ignored what Raja was upto? If only he had taken some time off from his pet project and put brakes on Raja and allowed an EGoM to look into the issue, which he incidentally has set up in dozens during the last six and half years, we would not be discussing the 2G scam today. Manmohan Singh may be the most honest Prime Minister we have had, but he certainly is not the most vigilant Prime Minister we have had. Wittingly or otherwise.
—–ends
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http://indiasreport.com/magazine/
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Dear Girish,
I must state that I love your style of journalism- a one man army who views issues from the contemporary issues standpoint.. incessantly, without a break, providing new insights each time, bringing to light matters that did not previously make it to people’s attention. All I cn say is that, keep up the great work and that some great publication domestically or internationally is missing out on a journalist of great substance!
Warm best regards,
Brijesh Kalappa
Good analysis-post event. Whether we like it or not, TATA’s name has been sullied thru this issue. It is amazing how political expediencies can affect good governance, whatever may be the capability of the Leader.
Its frustrating. of what use is a clean, honest, wise, decent, learned, respected, dignified PM, if he is not courageous ? Unfortunately Mr. Singh comes across now as the weakest PM we’ve had.
Why did the 2G scam occur right under Manmohan Singh's nose: PM ……
Here at World Spinner we are debating the same thing……
Sir ,
This is indeed an unbiased,diligent and commendable piece of work of yours. Kudos!
Sumita
Dear Girish
Wonderful as always, do you think Ratan Tata is going out on a limb to defend Niira Radia??? It is frighteneing to know how brazenly the Ministers are looting our wealth, and why do we keep harping on the personal integrity and honesty of Manmohan Singh???? Is he naive oo as the saying goes in Hindi: does he call “Roti” “Chochi”. come on if he were really honest he would blow the whistle and then earn the right to be called honest, simple, full of integrity etc etc. Everybody who knows how things get done in the corridors of Power knows nothing really moves without the full permission/consent/knowledge of the Gandhi Family.
What about finally exposing Praful Patel’s and “Sahib’s” machinations.
Look forward to your posts.Sharad
Dear Girish,the PM has an image of being honest and as a man with highest integrity, but he has definitely faltered very badly not only on the 2G but also the various other scams. I think it would be very interesting to investigate the SG angle/role in all these scams. As we all know the PM is more of an proxy PM, key decisions are taken by someone else ( read as SG) in the country. There has to be someone guilty at the highest level and i am still of the opinion that the PM as an individual is not corrupt, he may have been guilty of being inefficient in putting a stop on corruption, and that leaves only SG and family at the top who could be involved in this ‘mother of all scams’ , and their family background makes it easy for me to believe them to be involved in this.
My Take on this whole 2G Scam.
Laugh… Laugh at all this entertainment… This Entertainment is for honest Taxpayers… This is all you get.. Atleast enjoy whatever you get..
Enjoy…
My dear Girish,
I congratulate you on these articles. You have enlightened so many people, on the unbeleievable developements surrounding 2G.
Thank you,
Juzar
Dear Giri,
Congrats ! Article written with a great sense of perspective and very detailed analysis.
It is quite painful for me to see the name of Mr. Ratan Tata involved in this big story
since I am a second generation employee from one of the big names in the Tata
Group of Companies. His name has been truly synonymous with ‘integrity’, ‘ethics’ and
‘clean approach’ for so many decades now. But does that image take a beating at last??
Well, only time will tell, what with so many skeletons tumbling out every day.
Cheers and regards,
Chunti
when most of them dropped their arms down…you are fighting this battle on your own. Bravo..every time I listen to your words very closely. expecting more from you….
Excellent wrap-up Girish. Strangely, at the height of winter so many people are walking around without clothes in Delhi !
Dear Girish
Your latest article is a sterling piece of ‘journalism’ that must, perhaps, be published (since not much option these days) in the Outlook. I would have also told my previous boss that this is the kind of contemporary history-writing that likes of Ramachandra Guha or Pratap Bhanu Mehta should be doing rather than pontifiacting on the official line (Guha) or condensed theroetical writings (Mehta). I am sure whenever a professional historian writes of events in Nov-Dec 2010 India, he would take your lead in uncovering the contemporary situation.
The leadership crisis confronts Indian democracy. It’s bleak at the moment: dynatic, venal, bereft of any new ideas; crony capitalism and the perils of working with a coalition government, to name just a few. For all these, there needs to be strucutual infirmities, like the rising water table in E. Delhi which makes houses fall much rapidly! What is the reaction of the voter when the ‘home’ of Mukesh A runs an electiructy bill running into Rs. 70 lakhs per month? Would the India Today run a Nielsen poll on this topic or should we wait Arundhati to thunder on this profligacy, Radia or Rado? Is it because our tolerance level has increased so much, jaded by so much of media (controlled by so many business interests) that a sort of erectile dysfunction has set in? Optimists would like to see in the Indian saga, along with Wikileaks as an accompaniment, a kind of wake up call that many other countries never get, say, Russia, and how this drama may make our affairs more transparent in future.
The frivolities apart, I went through an interesting article in Internationl Herald tribune about how Obama needs to develop, in spite of all his genius, a kind of connect with the population : A new “New Deal’. A phrase that captures the prevalent mood and yet gives hope. DOes it come after a snap poll next year? Does Mr Nitish Kumar look towards Delhi? Are the symptoms similar when JP launched his movement in Bihar?
We need to think strongly about it.One may also expect you to write about these!
Atul
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