‘2G Saga Unfolds’ Seeks to Absolve A Raja in People’s Court

Raja plays the victim card well, appearing to be a minister who tried to work for common man, writes TS Sudhir.

(Too busy to read, listen to the story instead.)

On 2 February 2011, a little after noon, Andimuthu Raja was informed that he was going to be arrested. In his book, ‘2G Saga Unfolds,’ Raja describes the scene inside the CBI office soon after the news was broken to him.

The CBI officers had called my friends, Rajendran and Dr Gowthaman, to inform them of my arrest. I was surprised to see Rajendran entering the room weeping so openly. I had never seen him cry before.

A Raja in his book ‘2G Saga Unfolds’

With tears in his eyes, Dr Gowthaman tested my blood pressure using the equipment he had brought along with him. My reading was 120/80. The DSP requested him to test his BP as well. It was 160/110. I joked, “Who has been found to be the culprit? Me or the CBI?”

Maximum Bile for CAG Vinod Rai

This anecdote, in a nutshell, sums up the tone and tenor of A Raja’s book. It is a spirited defence mounted by the former Union telecom minister that he knows will be taken seriously now that the court of Judge OP Saini has acquitted him, and all others accused in the 2G case.

In Raja’s book, 2G was never a scam but a conspiracy possibly masterminded by several characters with vested political and business interests, whom he alludes to at different stages in the book.

However, Raja reserves the maximum bile for the former Comptroller and Auditor General of India, Vinod Rai, accusing him of having “ulterior motives.” He holds Rai singularly responsible for destroying his reputation and playing a critical role in bringing about the downfall of the UPA-II government.

In this regard, Raja writes in his book:

It is my conviction, consequent to the whole experience of the trial, that there was political motivation to kill UPA-II and Rai’s was the shoulder on which the gun was placed.

A Raja in his book ‘2G Saga Unfolds’

Raja does not hide his disappointment with the Congress bosses for not coming to his rescue even when the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, and Pranab Mukherjee, were kept in the loop about every decision at each step.

In fact, the book appears to comprise pages taken out of Raja's appointments diary, as he lists in detail his interactions with the PM and other senior ministers.

Raja’s Grievances Against His ‘Own People’

There is only one person who comes out smelling of roses in this book – A Raja himself.

Manmohan Singh comes across as a man who was obsessed only with his personal image and who succumbed to public and media pressure over the 2G ‘scam’. If Raja is now brought back by DMK leader MK Stalin into the top decision-making body of the party, his impression of the Congress leadership is certain to carry weight in how DMK-Congress relations pan out in the future.

Without saying it in so many words, Raja subtly makes a distinction between the kind of leadership Singh and M Karunanidhi exhibited. The DMK supremo comes in for a great degree of praise and respect from Raja, who throughout makes no bones about the kind of impact Karunanidhi’s writings and personality have had on him.

Similar disappointment is also expressed with P Chidambaram and Kapil Sibal for not standing by Raja, and with JPC chairperson PC Chacko whom he accuses of having pre-judged him.

The Congress, as is obvious from Raja's arguments, was only obsessed with ensuring that Raja's utterances did not sully the image of the ‘top three’ of the party. And therefore, ‘coalition dharma’ was thrown out of the window.

Raja Takes ‘Book Route’ to Prove Innocence

The ‘telecom cartel’ comes in for a liberal dose of barbs, with Sunil Mittal of Airtel being described in Raja’s book as a man with “shades of smug conceit.” It is with Raja's case that Mittal tried to break the stranglehold the established players wanted to maintain on the telecom sector, preventing new players from coming in, even when there was spectrum to spare for everyone.

What works for Raja in this book is that at every step, he has quoted extensively from official files to prove that all decisions were taken by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) and the Department of Telecom, and he was merely going by the advice of his secretaries.

Given the manner in which he was hauled over the coals, it is not surprising that Raja has chosen the book route to absolve him in the people's court. He knows a legal reprieve is just not enough, and he would need to explain to people, both in New Delhi and back in his karmabhoomi in the Nilgiris in Tamil Nadu, to prove that he was framed.

Playing the ‘Victim Card’

Does the book do a good job? To a large extent, yes. Despite being highly technical in in his book, Raja plays the ‘victim card’ very well. He makes a case for himself as a minister who tried to work in the interest of the common man, increasing tele-density and reducing the cost of making phone calls.

But important questions are left unanswered, perhaps deliberately. Raja mentions only in passing, the Rs 200-crore loan given to Kalaignar TV, one of the contentions of the Enforcement Directorate that the 2G ‘scam’ was a case of quid pro quo.

He also does not detail any of the conspiracy charges in the suicide of his friend Sadiq Batcha. The allegation was that Batcha was murdered for having provided evidence against Raja to the CBI.

Where does Raja go from here? During the Karunanidhi-era, Raja was seen as the Dalit face of the party. After his fall from grace, he was sidelined, but now after the verdict, there will be pressure on Stalin to rehabilitate him honourably.

But if the BJP continues to insist that 2G spectrum allocation case was a scam, it will make the possibility of a DMK-BJP relationship after 2019 a non-starter.

It is also possible that Raja could once again become the fall guy. In the world of knives behind the back politics that Raja is now so familiar with, he will know that anything is possible. More so when his mentor Karunanidhi is no longer active in politics.

If not for being extremely technical, ‘2G Saga Unfolds’ would make for a riveting political film. Perhaps, Raja even has a potential future as a storyteller in Kollywood.

(The writer is a senior journalist. He can be reached @Iamtssudhir. This is an opinion piece and the views expressed above are the author’s own. The Quint neither endorses nor is responsible for the same)

(We Indians have much to talk about these days. But what would you tell India if you had the chance? Pick up the phone and write or record your Letter To India. Don’t be silent, tell her how you feel. Mail us your letter at [e-mail]. We’ll make sure India gets your message)