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M R Narayan Swamy in New Delhi
Five months ago it caused a public outrage. Today -- when India's most sensational corruption scandal is being laced with allegations of sex -- there is hardly a whimper.
In just five months, it seems, Indians have turned blasé.
In March when a portal released the country's most devastating investigative story, exposing secret videotapes of politicians, army officers and bureaucrats taking wads of cash to win arms deals, it looked the Indian government would crumble.
Such was the national revulsion that defence minister George Fernandes, his Samata Party president Jaya Jaitly and Bharatiya Janata Party president Bangaru Laxman had to quit amid widespread calls for the government's ouster.
They were among politicians who every day rubbed shoulders with the likes of Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and, in the case of Fernandes, were privy to the country's darkest secrets.
Even though most Indian politicians have in recent decades come to be looked down upon, the country was shocked that army officers could as easily fall from grace for money and whiskey.
Wednesday's stunning revelation by The Indian Express that the baits thrown tehelka.com included the honey trap as well shocked many. But it has created none of the ripples that followed the March expose.
It is as if most Indians have taken it in their stride and become immune to the wrongdoings of those who preside over their destiny. There have been no protests and there are no animated discussions in buses and trains - possibly because the subject involved was sex.
Not only that. Politicians like Laxman who went virtually into oblivion five months ago after being tainted by the scandal have made a dramatic comeback into newspapers and TV screens pontificating over journalistic morality.
The Samata Party, a key government ally that was the worst hit by the scandal, is on the offensive. It wants the government to charge Tehelka boss Tarun Tejpal and his investigative reporters with pimping - for supplying alleged prostitutes to sleazy military officers. One was filmed having sex in a hotel.
Although few people - including those in the government who have no love lost for Tehelka - are against any action that would amount to gagging the media, the portal is feeling the heat - probably for the first time.
Even those who applauded Tehelka's guts for exposing sordid corruption in an unprecedented manner in India - where active journalism goes back to more than a century - are now questioning the ethics of it all.
It is okay to expose corruption, may be even capture on video how politicians accept hard cash. But is it permissible to supply women for sex because those on the hit list demanded them?
Can one pimp in public interest? Did not Mahatma Gandhi emphasise that the means is as important as the end?
Political analyst Mahesh Rangarajan said the latest revelations were a landmark, particularly for the Indian media.
"In India there had been a convention not to probe the private lives of those in public life. That appears to be breached," Rangarajan told IANS.
"Possibly a shift is going on in the media. The media is now raking a lot of issues that were earlier left untouched. The one impact of this disclosure is that it would be very difficult for any one person to point a finger at another. Personal lives are going to be called into question, even of those in the media."
"The disclosures have ignited a debate on the media and its practices. This is good. For the first time, people are wondering whether the media doesn't need a code of conduct," he said.
Indo-Asian News Service
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