Letters: Unim'press'ed - I

At his press conference on February 16, the prime minister gave the impression of talking straight from the heart without any prevarication, although he might not have covered all the contentious issues. The TV channel editors did not make an optimum use of the rare opportunity to get to the bottom of the 2G spectrum scam. For example, no one thought of asking a question on former telecom minister A Raja’s decision to advance the date for accepting applications for spectrum licences without any urgent need. The prime minister’s defence on the “notional” loss on account of the deal was not convincing. He cited instances of the subsidies on food, fuel and fertilisers provided by the government and asked whether they could be considered losses. But there is a qualitative difference in those cases vis-à-vis the spectrum scam. In the case of the former, the beneficiaries are the people and their benefits counterbalance the “losses” to government. But in the spectrum scam, the beneficiaries are individuals and companies.

A Seshan, Mumbai

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