THE TIMES GROUP EDITOR-IN-CHIEF, NAVIKA KUMAR’s involvement in the infamous 2010 Radia tapes controversy came under scrutiny after it was quietly subsided when they were first leaked more than a decade ago. While she was not a prominent journalist at that time, as compared to her peers who were named in the leaked call recordings, her name was also among those who were lobbying for a DMK leader in the Ministry of Telecommunications during UPA-II cabinet formation. She was able to escape from the mess unscathed but now questions are emerging about her alleged involvement in the BJP leadership and her “protection” from the scrutiny that the likes of senior journalists Barkha Dutta and Vir Sanghavi faced.
A phone call dated June 10, 2009, between Niira Radia and Navika Kumar had a conversation about an upcoming revolt within the Bharitya Janta Party. Navika Kumar was prying Radia—a corporate lobbyist—about the details. Radia showed reluctance in sharing the information she had as she feared Navika’s connections in the BJP, including close proximity with Arun Jaitley could be trouble for Niira’s sources.
However, after more persuasion from Navika and assuring Radia that she wouldn’t speak about the leak, Radia finally tells her there is revolt going to happen within the party on that day against the top leadership including Rajnath Singh, LK Advani, Venkaiah Naidu, Arun Jaitley, Narendra Modi and others. Radia told the Times Now journalist that the rebellion will be led by Jaswant Singh—veteran BJP leader and former Minister of External Affairs.
“Please don’t talk about this before 5 PM. Let him enter the meeting and circulate the letter. Once I receive the letter, I will forward it to you. You will anyway get the letter from your friends in the party,” Radia said in the leaked call recording. The call recording established a link between Navika and the top leadership of a rising BJP.
Between 2008 and 2009, the income tax department recorded conversations between Niira Radia and Delhi’s most influential figures like Ratan Tata, DMK Leaders A Raja and Kanimozhi, and others as an investigation into alleged money-laundering and tax evasion cases. The names would later also include senior journalists Vir Sanghvi and Barkha Dutt.
The recording was first brought into public domain by Open and Outlook magazines in November 2010. It gave a transcript of the tapes where senior journalist Barkha Dutt was allegedly lobbying for reappointment of DMK leader Dayanidhi Maran in the cabinet to the Ministry of IT and communications.
Times Now journalist Navika Kumar was also mentioned in another conversation between Radia and Ranjan Bhattacharya, a prominent businessman and foster son-in-law of former PM Atal Vihar Bajpayee. The two are discussing important formation of ministries in the UPA-II cabinet, especially who will preside over the telecom ministry. Niira informs Ranjan that DMK’s A Raja is most likely going to get that post, also saying that Navika was lobbying for Dayanidhi Maran on the request of Virat Bhatia, Chairman of AT&T India.
The tapes sparked outrage over how media personalities were involved in important democratic decision-making processes, breaking the trust of the fourth pillar of democracy.
The case that initially began by the Income Tax department as an enquiry into tax evasion and money laundering became a part of CBI’s investigation in the 2G scam. Initially, the tapes were only leaked by Open and Outlook, followed by a selected few media outlets like HT Media.
However, social media, particularly Twitter (now X), played an important role in spreading the leaked tapes at that time, leading to a public outrage over the 2G scam and alleged lobbying of ministers by senior journalists.
Eventually the CBI’s investigation in the 2G scam not only led to the fallout of the UPA government but also broke the trust of the public towards the media. Vinod Mehta, former Editor-in-chief of Outlook, recalls how he was skeptical of leaking Radia tapes through his magazine as it involved his own journalist brethren.
Following Outlook’s coverage, Tata pulled out their ads from the magazine as Ratan Tata was also one of the names mentioned in the lobbying case. It led to Mehta being sidelined by his own magazine owner, Rajan Raheja. He was also ousted by the media circle, especially all those mentioned in the tapes.
Vinod Mehta’s wife Sumita Paul, in an interview with The Caravan, said that his last days were particularly hard and lonely. When he died in March 2015, Rajan Raheja, the owner of the Outlook, where Mehta had worked since 1995, didn’t even attend the funeral.
Barkha Dutt and Vir Sanghavi publicly apologized for letting down the public’s trust, but maintained that these were private conversations with their sources. Dutt and Sangavi would later step down from their senior roles in NDTV and Hindustan Times respectively. They went on to start their own independent venture and had a major career shift.
Navika Kumar, now Editor-in-chief of The Times Group, was not a prominent name back then and didn’t face much scrutiny. Her involvement with BJP leaders, as discussed with Niira, especially when the party was on the rise, has now become a problematic link for the general public. While the people named in the 2G scam and Radia tapes are now acquitted from criminal charges, senior journalists named in the controversy still face distrust from some parts of the public.
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