Tehelka as Metaphor
Encyclopedia
Tehelka as Metaphor is a 2009 nonfiction book by renowned Indian journalist, Madhu Trehan. The book is an account of the Tehelka
exposé and its aftermath. In the year 2001, Operation West End, sting operation
and an undercover
news story by Tehelka.com, exposed the bribery and corruption prevalent in the top brass of Army and then Indian government, which led to the resignation of then Defence Minister, George Fernandes
.
that gave investigative reportage a whole new direction.
Madhu Trehan does a bestselling forensic study of the imperatives at the root of the story. She writes about how the Indian bureaucracy
so easily misused instruments of democracy and power to get back at Tehelka and destroy its investors, without leaving any footprints. Numerous participants of the same sting operation have related their versions of the story in the book, but interestingly, and almost expectedly, none of the stories tally!
The book contains exhaustive personal interviews and provides a deep insight into modern India
as well as modern journalism. Even as Trehan talks about a ‘ray of hope’, she asks whether (it) will actually ‘bring about a change in this highly cynical, jaded, Machiavellian society.’
, the investigative piece broke in March 2001 and went on to become the biggest undercover news story in Indian journalism.
Tehelka’s reporters masqueraded as arms dealers and with the help of spycams infiltrated the Indian government. They bribed top-ranked army
officers, gave money to the president
of the ruling party and the defense minister’s close colleague right in the defense minister’s residence. Several political figures, as well as the army top brass, were captured on camera, colluding to take bribes in order to approve defense contracts worth hundreds of crores.
As soon as the tapes were made public on television, a national furor forced the resignation of then Defense Minister, George Fernandes
. The Indian government, shocked and humiliated at the public exposé, immediately ordered a probe into the entire matter. It was later revealed that there was no evidence linking Fernandes to the impropriety in the deals.
Consequently, Tehelka was accused of fabricating allegations to malign Fernandes’ image at the behest of his political foes. It was declared that the operation was a biased and motivated campaign against the ruling party.
Eventually, Tehelka was forced to shut down its operations, albeit temporarily. The lives of all those involved – journalist Matthew Samuel, investigative editor Aniruddha Bahal
, chief editor Tarun Tejpal and investors Shankar Sharma and Devina Mehra – changed overnight. They got trapped in a mesh of false allegations construed by the corruption-ridden Indian system.
The Commission of Enquiry was used as a weapon against them rather than the real culprits.
edited by Tarun Tejpal. It started off as a news website in the year 2000 and became popular through an exposé of match-fixing in professional cricket in India. However, its biggest claim to fame came from Operation West End, the sting operation that exposed the worst-kept secrets of the Indian government.
Following hostile action in the aftermath of the sting operation, the site was forced to close down operations temporarily. In 2003, Tehelka.com was relaunched as a weekly newspaper
and in 2007, shifted to a regular magazine format. In October, 2007, Tehelka broke an elaborate sting operation on the Gujarat Riots, wherein the perpetrators of the riots admitted to heinous crimes. The operation revealed that the riots were part of a well-planned conspiracy that had state involvement.
, Dehradun
, she studied journalistic photography at Harrow Technical College & School of Arts in 1968 and received her master’s degree in journalism from Columbia University
, New York, in 1972. Before returning to India in 1975, Trehan worked in the Press Section in the United Nations in New York.
Trehan is considered a pioneer in investigative journalism in India. She started India’s leading news magazine India Today
with her father V.V. Purie and brother Aroon Purie
. After marrying renowned Indian surgeon, Dr. Naresh Trehan
, she went back to New York to start her family.
On her return to India in 1986, Madhu Trehan produced and anchored a path-breaking television
news magazine program known as Newstrack for TV Today. The program was an instant hit and became famous for its incredible journalistic scoops.
In 2000, Trehan left TV Today to launch wahindia.com, a website and print magazine. In the year 2002, Roli Books commissioned her to write a book on Tehelka’s Operation West End. The 600-page book took six years of painstaking research and contains forty exhausting personal interviews that help demystify the entire story.
The Hindustan Times, India’s leading English daily, has reviewed the book, “Madhu Trehan delved into the old story of Tehelka and came up with a new tale of contemporary India. Trehan's narrative brings out complex human encounters on the Tehelka tapes.”
The Tribune
said in its review of the book, "It is a book that matters and will stand the test of time." Popular columnist, Tavleen Singh
, observed, "Trehan has used Tehelka as the prism of corruption and shown a justice system unable to deal with it."
World renowned women's magazine, Elle
, reviewed, "The book lurches with equal comfort between Kurosawa, Virginia Woolf and The Matrix in its frame of reference, and continually finds itself asking perhaps unanswerably large questions about integrity and the nature of truth."
"The book is a post-mortem in easy language and also an insight into and guide to modern journalism," reviewed India's leading daily, The Indian Express
.
Tehelka
Tehelka is an Indian weekly political magazine under the editorship of Tarun Tejpal known for its undercover exposé style of journalism. Its cover price is Rs 20 per issue. The publication began in 2000 as a news website, Tehelka.com...
exposé and its aftermath. In the year 2001, Operation West End, sting operation
Sting operation
In law enforcement, a sting operation is a deceptive operation designed to catch a person committing a crime. A typical sting will have a law-enforcement officer or cooperative member of the public play a role as criminal partner or potential victim and go along with a suspect's actions to gather...
and an undercover
Undercover
Being undercover is disguising one's own identity or using an assumed identity for the purposes of gaining the trust of an individual or organization to learn secret information or to gain the trust of targeted individuals in order to gain information or evidence...
news story by Tehelka.com, exposed the bribery and corruption prevalent in the top brass of Army and then Indian government, which led to the resignation of then Defence Minister, George Fernandes
George Fernandes
George Mathew Fernandes is an Indian trade unionist, politician, journalist, agriculturist, and member of Rajya Sabha from Bihar. He is a key member of the Janata Dal , and was the founder of the Samata Party...
.
The Book
Prism Me a Lie Tell Me a Truth: Tehelka as Metaphor is a searing account of the aftermath of Operation West End. The story’s heroes, villains and victims have been analyzed and demystified in this thrilling, true coverage of a sting operationSting operation
In law enforcement, a sting operation is a deceptive operation designed to catch a person committing a crime. A typical sting will have a law-enforcement officer or cooperative member of the public play a role as criminal partner or potential victim and go along with a suspect's actions to gather...
that gave investigative reportage a whole new direction.
Madhu Trehan does a bestselling forensic study of the imperatives at the root of the story. She writes about how the Indian bureaucracy
Bureaucracy
A bureaucracy is an organization of non-elected officials of a governmental or organization who implement the rules, laws, and functions of their institution, and are occasionally characterized by officialism and red tape.-Weberian bureaucracy:...
so easily misused instruments of democracy and power to get back at Tehelka and destroy its investors, without leaving any footprints. Numerous participants of the same sting operation have related their versions of the story in the book, but interestingly, and almost expectedly, none of the stories tally!
The book contains exhaustive personal interviews and provides a deep insight into modern India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
as well as modern journalism. Even as Trehan talks about a ‘ray of hope’, she asks whether (it) will actually ‘bring about a change in this highly cynical, jaded, Machiavellian society.’
Operation West End
Operation West End was a sting operation which uncovered malpractices and siphoning of hundreds of crores worth of funds during defense procurements in 2001. Exposing the then ruling coalition of the National Democratic AllianceNational Democratic Alliance (India)
The National Democratic Alliance is a centre-right coalition of political parties in India. At the time of its formation in 1998, it was led by the Bharatiya Janata Party and had thirteen constituent parties. Its convenor is Sharad Yadav, and its honorary chairman is former prime minister Atal...
, the investigative piece broke in March 2001 and went on to become the biggest undercover news story in Indian journalism.
Tehelka’s reporters masqueraded as arms dealers and with the help of spycams infiltrated the Indian government. They bribed top-ranked army
Army
An army An army An army (from Latin arma "arms, weapons" via Old French armée, "armed" (feminine), in the broadest sense, is the land-based military of a nation or state. It may also include other branches of the military such as the air force via means of aviation corps...
officers, gave money to the president
President
A president is a leader of an organization, company, trade union, university, or country.Etymologically, a president is one who presides, who sits in leadership...
of the ruling party and the defense minister’s close colleague right in the defense minister’s residence. Several political figures, as well as the army top brass, were captured on camera, colluding to take bribes in order to approve defense contracts worth hundreds of crores.
The Aftermath
The exposé was not just about those trapped on camera. In the aftermath, it became an exposé of how the country and its systems function.As soon as the tapes were made public on television, a national furor forced the resignation of then Defense Minister, George Fernandes
George Fernandes
George Mathew Fernandes is an Indian trade unionist, politician, journalist, agriculturist, and member of Rajya Sabha from Bihar. He is a key member of the Janata Dal , and was the founder of the Samata Party...
. The Indian government, shocked and humiliated at the public exposé, immediately ordered a probe into the entire matter. It was later revealed that there was no evidence linking Fernandes to the impropriety in the deals.
Consequently, Tehelka was accused of fabricating allegations to malign Fernandes’ image at the behest of his political foes. It was declared that the operation was a biased and motivated campaign against the ruling party.
Eventually, Tehelka was forced to shut down its operations, albeit temporarily. The lives of all those involved – journalist Matthew Samuel, investigative editor Aniruddha Bahal
Aniruddha Bahal
Aniruddha Bahal is an Indian journalist, author, founder and editor of the online magazine Cobrapost.com. Born in Allahabad, Bahal worked as a journalist and editor for India Today and Outlook. In 1999, he along with Tarun Tejpal co-founded Tehelka, a news website...
, chief editor Tarun Tejpal and investors Shankar Sharma and Devina Mehra – changed overnight. They got trapped in a mesh of false allegations construed by the corruption-ridden Indian system.
The Commission of Enquiry was used as a weapon against them rather than the real culprits.
Tehelka
Tehelka is an Indian weekly magazineMagazine
Magazines, periodicals, glossies or serials are publications, generally published on a regular schedule, containing a variety of articles. They are generally financed by advertising, by a purchase price, by pre-paid magazine subscriptions, or all three...
edited by Tarun Tejpal. It started off as a news website in the year 2000 and became popular through an exposé of match-fixing in professional cricket in India. However, its biggest claim to fame came from Operation West End, the sting operation that exposed the worst-kept secrets of the Indian government.
Following hostile action in the aftermath of the sting operation, the site was forced to close down operations temporarily. In 2003, Tehelka.com was relaunched as a weekly newspaper
and in 2007, shifted to a regular magazine format. In October, 2007, Tehelka broke an elaborate sting operation on the Gujarat Riots, wherein the perpetrators of the riots admitted to heinous crimes. The operation revealed that the riots were part of a well-planned conspiracy that had state involvement.
The Author
Madhu Trehan is a veteran journalist of 37 years and one of India’s bestselling authors. After completing her schooling from the Welham Girls SchoolWelham Girls School
Welham Girls School is a boarding school for girls located at the foothills of the Himalayas in Dehradun, India...
, Dehradun
Dehradun
- Geography :The Dehradun district has various types of physical geography from Himalayan mountains to Plains. Raiwala is the lowest point at 315 meters above sea level, and the highest points are within the Tiuni hills, rising to 3700 m above sea level...
, she studied journalistic photography at Harrow Technical College & School of Arts in 1968 and received her master’s degree in journalism from Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
, New York, in 1972. Before returning to India in 1975, Trehan worked in the Press Section in the United Nations in New York.
Trehan is considered a pioneer in investigative journalism in India. She started India’s leading news magazine India Today
India Today
India Today is an Indian weekly news magazine published by Living Media India Limited, in publication since 1975 based in Mumbai. India Today is also the name of its sister-publication in Hindi...
with her father V.V. Purie and brother Aroon Purie
Aroon Purie
Aroon Purie is an Indian businessman who is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of India Today and the Chief Executive of the India Today Group. He is also the Managing Director of Thomson Press Limited and the Chairman and Managing Director of TV Today...
. After marrying renowned Indian surgeon, Dr. Naresh Trehan
Naresh Trehan
Dr. Naresh Trehan is an Indian surgeon and medical administrator. He has served as personal surgeon to the President of India since 1991, has received numerous awards, including the Padma Shri and Padma Bhushan. Dr. Trehan was the founder, executive director and chief cardiovascular surgeon of...
, she went back to New York to start her family.
On her return to India in 1986, Madhu Trehan produced and anchored a path-breaking television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
news magazine program known as Newstrack for TV Today. The program was an instant hit and became famous for its incredible journalistic scoops.
In 2000, Trehan left TV Today to launch wahindia.com, a website and print magazine. In the year 2002, Roli Books commissioned her to write a book on Tehelka’s Operation West End. The 600-page book took six years of painstaking research and contains forty exhausting personal interviews that help demystify the entire story.
Reviews
Released in February, 2009, Tehelka as Metaphor has been getting rave reviews. The book has been received well by the Indian media, with many Indian journalists singing praises of how extensively researched the book is. A guide to modern journalism, it has been touted as a must-read for anyone who wants to understand the workings of the Indian society.The Hindustan Times, India’s leading English daily, has reviewed the book, “Madhu Trehan delved into the old story of Tehelka and came up with a new tale of contemporary India. Trehan's narrative brings out complex human encounters on the Tehelka tapes.”
The Tribune
The Tribune
The Tribune is an Indian English-language daily newspaper published from Chandigarh, New Delhi, Jalandhar, Dehradun and Bathinda. It was founded on 2 February 1881, in Lahore , by Sardar Dyal Singh Majithia, a public-spirited philanthropist, and is run by a trust comprising five eminent persons as...
said in its review of the book, "It is a book that matters and will stand the test of time." Popular columnist, Tavleen Singh
Tavleen Singh
Tavleen Singh is a noted Indian syndicated columnist and political reporter and writer.-Biography:Singh was born in Mussoorie in 1950 and studied at the Welham Girls School. Later she did a short-term Journalism course from the New Delhi Polytechnic in 1969...
, observed, "Trehan has used Tehelka as the prism of corruption and shown a justice system unable to deal with it."
World renowned women's magazine, Elle
Elle (magazine)
Elle is a worldwide magazine of French origin that focuses on women's fashion, beauty, health, and entertainment. Elle is also the world's largest fashion magazine. It was founded by Pierre Lazareff and his wife Hélène Gordon in 1945. The title, in French, means "she".-History:Elle was founded in...
, reviewed, "The book lurches with equal comfort between Kurosawa, Virginia Woolf and The Matrix in its frame of reference, and continually finds itself asking perhaps unanswerably large questions about integrity and the nature of truth."
"The book is a post-mortem in easy language and also an insight into and guide to modern journalism," reviewed India's leading daily, The Indian Express
The Indian Express
The Indian Express is an Indian English-language daily newspaper. It is published in Mumbai by Indian Express Group. After Ramnath Goenka's death in 1991, the group was split in 1999 among his family members into two with the southern editions taking the name The New Indian Express, while the old...
.
External links
- Tehelka as Metaphor, Book Website
- Tehelka as Metaphor at Roli Books
- Book Review Vir SanghviVir SanghviVir Sanghvi is an Indian print and television journalist, columnist, and talk show host. Currently, he is an Advisor, at HT Media....
- Rediff Website
- Madhu Trehan interview at The TribuneThe TribuneThe Tribune is an Indian English-language daily newspaper published from Chandigarh, New Delhi, Jalandhar, Dehradun and Bathinda. It was founded on 2 February 1881, in Lahore , by Sardar Dyal Singh Majithia, a public-spirited philanthropist, and is run by a trust comprising five eminent persons as...
- One India - The Book Launch Coverage
- New Kerala - Launch of Tehelka as Metaphor
- http://www.tehelka.com - Tehelka the Magazine