Public interest of paramount importance: politicos

The debate about state invasion of individual privacy versus public interest seems to have already been settled in the political circles in favour of the latter even before the Supreme Court decides on industrialist Ratan Tata's plea against dissemination of the infamous Niira Radia tapes.

Leader of the Opposition in Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley cited arguments he made in the Upper House during a debate on phone-tapping in the budget session of Parliament as a relevant basis for a debate on the issue.

The following questions raised by Jaitley in the Upper House are relevant to the debate on issues raised by the Radia tapes:

• Lobbyists/PR agencies are working in our political and government system in a structured manner.
• Retired civil servants are routinely employed by them in order to influence government decisions.
• Newspapers and news channels funded by their clients are under their control. Funding of several other media organisations takes place at their behest.
• Bureaucrats, MPs, industrialists, ministers, editors and journalists are among those who are used by these lobbyists as their instruments.
• Portfolio allocations are influenced by them. The case of allocation of ministry of telecommunication was an extensive point of lobbying.
• The 2G spectrum allocation was influenced by the minister at the behest of these lobbyists. The spectrum allocation has caused a huge loss to the public exchequer.

"I said it then and I say it now, the Radia tapes are a study in how the entire system was subverted," Jaitley said.

According to Left MPs, there is no confusion about the fact that Tata employed Radia and they were a company in the business of telecom.

There is no confusion that Radia was subverting institutions to promote her client's interests. In that case, they said, there can be no curb in publicly debating the issues thrown up by the tapes.

"The tapes depict how Radia was interfering with cabinet formation. Her clients preferred one minister over the other and she was promoting that interest through the media and other channels. She was also interfering with debates in Parliament. Judiciary was being sought to be influenced through some media persons. How is all this private business?" the CPM's leader of the House in Lok Sabha, Basudeb Acharia, asked.

A Congress MP said raising privacy issues in the context of the Radia tapes is "spurious".

"If you are doing that, your intention must be to stop further tapes from coming out. It means you have something to hide. Let us not obfuscate the debate on subversion of our democracy by raising individual privacy issues. That is settled in the law," he said.

Courtesy: Mail Today