RADIA GATE - BIO

The 2G scam tapes are a superb lesson in dialectology, loosely the study of speech styles. PR lady Niira Radia’s accent varies in practically each conversation with politicians, business leaders, bureaucrats and top TV and print editors. She’s matter-of-fact in some, husky in others; she’s abusive in Hindi while speaking about some journalists to her staffers, she’s assured while explaining extremely technical matters to business honchos, retired bureaucrats and editors; and has a schoolgirl-like British accent while conversing with Ratan Tata: “I hope the bad times are behind us,” she tells the Tata Group chief at the end of a conversation.
Well, the bad times do not seem to be ending for Niira Radia. As the Enforcement Directorate launches an investigation into the 5,800 reported taped conversations from Radia’s phone over a six-month period in 2009, all transactions with tax implications will be looked into. Home secretary G.K. Pillai tells Outlook that it was his predecessor Madhukar Gupta who had sanctioned the phone-tapping on the request of the Central Board of Direct Taxes, which was investigating suspicious fund transfers. These will be investigated now.
Since Outlook published extracts from the CD of Radia’s phone conversations (submitted to the court) taped by the I-T department—and put the 140 conversations up on its website—there has been a raging debate. On what they tell us about the role of lobbyists in the 2G spectrum allocation scam, how the media interplays in such a system, and how our political class and retired bureaucrats are more often than not willing partners in the game. These debates do not detract from the aim of punishing the guilty behind the 2G scam; rather they raise disturbing questions we all have to answer. Who is this woman who can speak to the “highest and mightiest” in this country in this way? From where does she draw her power? And what does it tell us about our society? When Outlook asked her whether she would like to give her version of these recent events, Radia SMSed back: “No. Thank You.” This is her story.