I-T Dept's survey operation at BBC offices and memories of another 'raid'

Such incidents reinforce the impression that the government is hiding something

The Income-Tax Department’s visit to the BBC offices has reminded me of another such episode that took place in the autumn of 1987, at the height of the Bofors artillery gun bribery controversy. In April that year, Swedish radio had said there had been some dirty work at the crossroads.

The incident served only to reinforce the impression that the government was hiding something. It was a sure sign of extreme discomfort at the highest levels of government. 

I was working for the Indian Express at the time. One day when we were half way through the morning editorial meeting chaired by the Editor, Arun Shourie, someone came and whispered something to him.

He got up saying “We are being raided by the CBI, gentlemen” and left the room. The rest of the four of us dutifully trooped out behind him.

The raid was not on the editorial side of the floor. It was on the business side across the large foyer that separated the two wings on the ground floor.

The CBI people were wandering around picking things up randomly, including the teleprinter roles. The management of the paper co-operated quietly. By about lunch time they had gathered up a lot of files and they went off.

Later that afternoon, Mr Shourie told us that the next day all the newspapers would carry stories saying “incriminating documents” had been found. And sure enough that’s what happened.

I don’t know whether it was because of that raid or something else that S Gurumurthy, who was Ramnath Goenka’s right hand man those days, found himself faced with 103 court cases filed in different cities and was also arrested by the CBI. Mr Goenka was the owner of the paper. He was a legend in the media. He passed away in 1990.

Throughout 1988 and 1989 Mr Gurumurthy flew around India, making court appearances. The stress in him was monumental. In the end, however, nothing came of it all.

Then, in October that year, the workers suddenly went on strike and the paper was closed for 40 days in Delhi. The other editions continued to be published. Mr Goenka’s residence became the office.

One day Mr Shourie and other bosses said to the journalists that they would enter the building to bring out the paper. We were taken in open tempos to the Express building only to be faced by a violent group of men throwing large stones at us.

We managed to enter the building because, in retrospect, it became clear that there was no attempt or intention to injure us. After all, many knew each other well.

But a few minutes after we got into the building, we were locked in. We could leave only at the risk of being beaten up by hired goons.

I remember preparing to spend the night on tables joined together. We had no food at all till 4 pm and it was only the heroism of a young Sikh that we managed to eat something. Ironically that Sikh is today a senior BJP leader.

It wasn’t till 2 am that we were able to leave. We left in ones and twos. Despite Mr Shourie’s attempts, we got no police help at all.

The paper eventually reopened on November 4, 1987 and took up the Bofors bribery campaign against Rajiv Gandhi in earnest. That campaign went on till the next general election which Mr Gandhi lost. But much later in 2004, he was posthumously acquitted of all charges.

In 1988, to intimidate the press, the government came up with the defamation bill. Had it been passed, the freedom to ask the government questions would have been severely curtailed. Fortunately, it was dropped after widespread protests.