Spilling Beans Or Bombs?

Note: We have no answers. And, it is not for any answers that we ask questions. We ask questions because we live in a state of illusion.


The ETV interview of Army Chief Gen. VK Singh brings forth some interesting aspects of reporting and interviewing. And, the maya world of media.

Since the interview was aired, hell has broken loose over the country and the Parliament, but since the UPA has developed an immune system to all forms of vital attacks, the government is not shaken. Nor is the Defence Minister, Mr AK Antony, who at the best of times prefers to keep a meaningful silence, is perturbed.

A CBI investigation has been ordered, and duly a pack of sunset men, some already blushing on their habitual tawny liquid, has converged on the many channels to scream at each other rather pally, and also to out-decibel the megalomaniac anchors a.k.a editors-in-chief, who live under the hallucination of being the rulers of the country.

The entire country has erupted over the revelations of the Army chief that he, the very head of one of the most powerful and largest armies in the world, has been approached with some crore of rupees to 'clear a file'.

The media, especially the news channels, which these days behave like street dogs scrambling for a piece of bone, hyperacted as it is their wont.

Please watch the interview again.

And, now let us ask ourselves a few questions.

Did Gen Singh give you the feeling that he was going to spill some beans, not exactly some harmless seeds but bombs that would blast?

The tone of the interview, and most importantly, that of the Army chief, was not aggressive. His expressions didn't say that he was on a mission. He was as lukewarm as a stagnant pond. On the contrary, the reporter looked stifled and stiff.

Now, let's come to the point.

We have to make a note here that the Army chief didn't make a claim that he was offered a bribe of Rs14 crore, but on the other hand, the reporter asked him that he knew that the General was made such an offer and wondered why he didn't complain.

Now, the expressions of both the journalist and the General didn't give us a feeling that they were discussing something 'classified'. If the interviewer was 'breaking some news' to the General--of him knowing the bribery attempt--then the officer should have been 'shocked'. But he didn't. He replied as if it was as innocuous as a beat question.

The reporter didn't go for the jogular either by asking the General a straightforward question if any middleman had ever approached him. It maybe the unthinkable but then, the way both of them handled the 'unthinkable' was quite casual.

That leads to the doubt if the interview was a fix--setting a platform for the General who has already lost his face over the date of birth issue with the government. Being the Chief of Army, Gen. Singh must be aware of the implications of someone in his chair being approached with a price tag, and he should have done something significant by ing it up with the higher authorities. The officer claims Defence Minister AK Antony had advised him to keep away from 'such people'.

So, the General has kept his gun silent, but he has made sure to keep the power dry!

The General is a venerable officer, who is not happy with his official date of birth. So is AK Antony, an honest minister, who suffers from general reticence and selective dumbness. The reporter is a seasoned pro--he was not excited about holding such an important piece of information which can further rock the wayward UPA-. True, most journalists are privy to the ugly underbelly of many angels.

And, then hell broke loose, on a day when Team Anna was rubbing it wrong against all Parliamentarians, and national news channels' 24x7 'Breaking News' scroll began to scream about the Army chief being attempted for bribery. By evening political hues spread across the whole issue. Congress came to the rescue of AK Antony while BJP began questioning the efficiency of PM and DM against the indecisiveness over the matter.

Yes, if our Army is targeted, it is a serious matter--but then our Army is not any more a virtuous virgin, sir!. In the first place, a responsible officer like Gen. VK Singh should not have kept mum for a couple of months about such a serious issue. And, once he has decided to be quiet on the subject, to come out the fag end of his career, blaming the system and the wheels within is hard to digest, and falls shy of grace.

Numbed by details about paid news and how journalists blackmail criminals and fraudsters, the common man is in a state of stupor.

He lives in a world of media illusion--he doesn't know where floor ends and where water begins. He gropes in the noon. He is ethically challenged and morally starved.

Who is the liar? Who knows?