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From: marswalker108
Date:
Tue Sep 3, 2002 7:36 pm
Subject: The Politicians In His Backyard: A
Sequel
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To All
devotees,
In March of 2001 I wrote about the Indian news Web
site Tehelka.com
exposing gross corruption at the highest levels
of government in
India and thus nearly bringing Prime Minister
Vajpayee's coalition
down. (Please read my post #13506 including
extracts from the DALLAS
MORNING NEWS.) The importnat and widely
read financial newspaper, the
WALL STREET JOURNAL (Aug 28, p
b10) recently ran an article regarding
the persecution by the
Indian govt. leveled against Tehelka.com and
other journalists
criticizing the government.
This is extremely significant as
many high officials of the Indian
govt have been at Sathya Sai
Baba's feet many times. Furthermore, SSB
has indicated that as
the "Golden Age" begins, India will lead the
other nations of
the world in positive change and transformation.
Extracts
from the WALL STREET JOURNAL article by Scott Newman
follows:
NEW DELHI-A news team that nearly bought down
India's government last
year with an explosive expose' of
corruption in politics is now
itself on the verge of collapse-a
victim, some media watchdogs and
journalists say, of a new
eagerness of Indian authorities to stifle
critical
journalism.
In march last year, the Indian news Web site
Tehelka.com blew the lid
off corruption at the very top levels
of government in India with a
hidden camera sting operation. The
Web site's journalists posed as
arms dealers who were ready to
pay for help in securing military
contracts. Numerous senior
army officers, top politicians and
government bureaucrats were
caught on tape either accepting bribes or
discussing the details
of payment.
Amid the pulic outrage that ensued, senior
members of the government
of Prime Minister Atal Biharj Bajpayee
and its coalition parties
resigned. Among them: Defense Minister
George Fernandes and the chief
of Mr. Fernandes' Samata party,
Jaya Jaitley.
But a lot has changed in a year: Mr. Fernandes
has his old job back,
and Ms. Jaitley remains a senior leader of
the Samata Party.
Meanwhile, two of Tehlka's journalists have
been arrested, and police
and other authorities have raided its
offices and those of its
financial backers several times. The
first raid, by income-tax
agents, came 10 days after Tehelka
released its story.
One of the Tehelka journalists, who is
still being held, has been
charged with illegal poaching of
animals. Tehlka denies the charges
and says the reporter was
working on an investigative report into the
illegal trade in
animal skins.............
Tehelka's editor, Tarun Tejpal,
characterizes the actions taken
against his group and its
backers as "a massive vendetta campaign"
that has hit them hard
financially. He says the Web site's staff has
shrunk to about 20
people from 120. "Of those [who] are left, not one
has been paid
a salary in six months." he says.
No doubt, the bursting of
the Internet bubble may have contributed to
Tehelka's financial
troubles, but many fellow journalists see more to
it than
that.
"It's gotten to the stage where no journalist in this
coungtry can
sit back and allow them to do what they're doing to
Tehelka," says
Vir Sanghvi, editor of the leading
English-language daily, the
Hindustan Times. "The level of
persecution is phenomenal."
This major scandal in India and
now the persecution of investigative
journalists should be a red
flag for us all. When is SSB going to
clean up his own back
yard? Hasn't SSB left a legacy of many broken
promises? Isn't it
pass time to realize our delusion?
Best wishes, Dennis
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