Govt Mute on Essar Tapes Because NDA Ministers Involved: Bhushan

Senior lawyer Prashant Bhushan talks to The Quint about media and government hesitance to respond to the tapes.

Reliance denies all allegations made in the phone tapping controversy. (Photo: The Quint)

Prashant Bhushan, a senior lawyer, in an interview to The Quint said that he will file a petition in the Supreme Court on the controversial Essar Tapes. He also indicated the reasons why the Modi government is remaining suspiciously silent on the tapes.

It is obvious why the government is hesitating in taking up this case, because clearly many people who were part of the NDA government earlier are involved in the acts of corruption, bribery and criminality. On top of that, there are huge corporates like the Ambanis who are also involved. Therefore, governments which have been taking benefits from these corporates are unwilling to act against them. Same thing happened with Radia tapes, the then-government was unwilling to take action. 

Prashant Bhushan, Senior Lawyer

Bhushan also said that the tapping case should be made part of ongoing proceedings in the Essar leaks case in the Supreme Court. These relate to emails “leaked” by a whistleblower, that show an alleged “nexus” between the company and politicians, bureaucrats and journalists.

Just like the Radia case, I intend to bring to the notice of the Court the Essar tapes. There is already an Essar case pending in the court. I will seek a thorough investigation in this matter.  

Prashant Bhushan, Senior Lawyer

Recently, a section of the media has been criticised on social media for not reporting on the VVIP phone tapping case, which shows a nexus between corporates and politicians. According to Bhushan, the media had always been rather reluctant to report against big corporates. Their reticence had been witnessed in the Radia tapes reportage as well.

Of course, a lot depends on the access that media gets to these tapes. So far I understand only few people have got access to these tapes including <b>The Quint</b>. But I can understand a lot reluctance comes in the media when big corporates like Reliance are involved, who spend a lot of money in advertising in media organisations, and who otherwise too have a lot of clout in the government, through which they can try to target media organisations.

Prashant Bhushan, Senior Lawyer