Yet another bites the dust

REGIONAL ROUNDUP

Babubhai Katara isn't at the top of the recall list when one speaks of Members of Parliament. However, this name came to occupy centrestage this past week. Arrested by the Delhi police at the IGI Airport as he tried to fly away yet another accomplice abroad under a false identity, Katara reminded us once again that Indian politics throws up ever worse examples of depravity with overwhelming regularity.

Dainik Bhaskar took this story as the lead in its April 19 edition, reporting on the seedy modus operandi that Katara employed to transport people outside India. Accompanied by a picture of a distressed Katara, the report added that Katara had made three trips to Toronto in the recent past and had taken different women every time on his wife's passport.

In its April 20 edition, Rajasthan Patrika took as lead the story of Katara being remanded to ten days in police custody. The paper also reported that the police were now actively looking into the itineraries of frequent MP travellers since the easy abuse of VIP passports threatened to open a can of political worms.

And indeed, April 22's papers brought the news of three more MPs believed to be involved in symbiotic human trafficking. Pictures of Telangana Rastriya Samithi (TRS) leader Chadrashekhar Rao, BSP MP Mohammad Tahir Khan and BJP MP Ramswaroop Koli were splashed on the front pages of all dailies, with Punjab Kesari quoting Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee on the saddening developments.

The Babubhai Katara scandal also hit the front pages of leading Kannada dailies. The issue became the second lead in all the Kannada dailies with pictures of the MP splashed prominently on the front pages. The follow-up on the scandal too was extensive in the regional media.

Market leader Vijaya Karnataka termed the scandal a "shocking incident". The newspaper said in its editorial, "It is unbelievable that a politician stooped to this level. This incident will cause a major embarrassment to the BJP, which claims to be an idealistic party. It will do no good to the image of the party given the ongoing elections in UP. It is time politicians conducted a serious introspection."

With the Babubhai Katara case taking a new twist""shifting the scene to Andhra Pradesh""frontline Telugu newspapers have started splashing exclusive stories on TRS dissident MLAs' involvement in human trafficking on their front pages in the last few days.

While leading Telugu dailies Eenadu, Vaartha and Andhra Jyothi confined the news on Katara and the Delhi High Court dismissing his bail plea to their inside pages, the news of the involvement of Koli, Tahir and the alleged hand of Mohan Moorthy in the murky issue was featured as the lead stories on Sunday.

On Wednesday, Eenadu carried an exclusive investigative story on the involvement of a TRS dissident MLA, Kasipeta Lingaiah, in human trafficking, besides carrying photographs of his original and fake passports on its front page. Following suit, Andhra Jyothi on Thursday carried an exclusive, unearthing the involvement of two other TRS MLAs Soyam Bapu Rao and Kambhampati Lakshma Reddy in human trafficking as its second lead, with the headline: "AP Full of Kataras".

On Thursday, Eenadu carried an editorial "Humiliation to the nation" on the human trafficking issue. Stating that a passport is not just a document that allows foreign trips but is an identity of one's nationality, the newspaper editorially said, "The United Nations' statistics reveal that the global human trafficking market is around Rs 1,40,000 crore, a major chunk of which is from India. The Centre recently proposed the amendment of a few regulations in the passport policy but has failed to take any action yet. The Katara issue should be an eye-opener to the Centre and it's time it amended the policy immediately."

The Katara issue hit the pages of the leading Tamil daily, Dinamalar, as well. In its April 22 edition, the paper carried a detailed report on the involvement of three more MPs in the scandal on page 1 and also on page 4 with photographs.

In its subsequent editions, the daily carried reports on a meeting called by Somnath Chatterjee to decide on the action to be taken against the six MPs involved in the case. On one of its inside pages, it also carried a box item on BJP leader L K Advani's reaction.

In its edition dated April 25, the daily carried a two-column report on page 1 stating that four MPs involved in the case had not appeared before the police in spite of the Delhi Crime Branch sending notices seeking their co-operation in the investigation.