Spooked by speculation

 

 

t would have been dismissed as a sick joke if only its fallout hadn’t been as grave. Mark Ames, a Californian-born American journo, indulged in a bout of kite flying on a website (exiledonline.com) in Russia, Telugu news channels picked up his wildly speculative webzine posting four months later, and irate mobs, purported to be supporters of the late Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, went on the rampage, attacking Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) property and personnel across the state.

What was this man thinking when he wrote "Enemy of Larry Summers' Ex-Boss Dies in Mysterious Helicopter Crash" the day after YSR’s chopper went missing on September 2? He was, as a character in the 1990 Joel and Ethan Coen film, Miller’s Crossing, police chief O’Doole, said, “I was just speculatin' about a hypothesis! I know I don't know nothin'!"

Ames did know a bit but the rest was pure speculation. The journalist was actually gunning for renowned economist Larry Summers, “the guy appointed by (US President Barack) Obama to run America's economy”. Reliance’s Mukesh Ambani and his retail outlets in AP ended up as collateral damage. Ames pointed out that Summers “worked for Ambani right up until he took his White House job. We're in good hands, folks."

The web posting alleged, without a shred of evidence, that RIL had a hand in YSR's death. When, on January 7, Hyderabad-based TV5 news channel picked up that piece of unsubstantiated conjecture, it sparked off arson and violence against Reliance outlets in AP as the police stood by and watched.

That original post, dated September 3, the day after Reddy's went off the radar, alleged that the CM had been exterminated because he had publicly criticised Ambani and his mother, Kokilaben, for the ongoing family feud over the Krishna-Godavari gas basin. "Ah, Y.S., you shouldn't have attacked their mother. Next thing you know...Reddy's deady," Ames wrote in his blog.

He has since admitted that he was merely speculating on the "mysterious" death of the former CM, adding that he was "flattered by all the attention" his article had garnered. In a later posting on his site, Ames said: "This has to be the single weirdest episode in my journalism career...I caused a mass riot in India."

When ill-advised Telugu news channels flashed the four-month old conspiracy theory, AP, already on the edge of hysteria over the fractious Telangana impasse, exploded. It took the police a day to formulate a response to the wave of mob violence. A spree of arrests followed, starting with the editors of TV5, the first among three Telugu channels that ‘discovered’ Ames’ ‘remarkable’ investigative work.

Ames had launched Exiled, a bi-weekly English newspaper, in Russia in 1997. It was devoted primarily to politics and pop culture. In 2008, it was forced to shut down by Russian authorities because of its consistent anti-establishment stance. The newspaper then moved online. Last August, Ames began a series that turned the spotlight on individuals and groups believed to be close to Summers, director of Obama’s National Economic Council. He wrote a detailed post on Ambani, on whose company's board Summers had served. Ames claimed the economist was paid $187,000 by Ambani. Ames’ website has an editorial policy of ‘shitting on everybody equally’ (as its top brass affirmed to The Independent).

YSR was waging war for the natural gas RIL was drawing from the KG basin. He demanded 10 per cent at a preferential rate for the state. However, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh himself explained to YSR the realities on gas distribution.

Gas distribution is under the purview of the Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM) formed under the aegis of the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas. The EGoM determines the pricing and supply of gas from the east coast offshore KG-D6 block.

In fact, major gas resources were found during Chandrababu Naidu’s reign itself. Naidu, too, was keen to derive benefits for the state. He had said: ‘We will use Reliance Gas as a springboard to rapidly industrialise the state.” But he chose to keep his counsel. There were numerous reports on Naidu’s strategic silence and on his nexus with Reliance.

The outspoken YSR had dared the Ambani brothers. “The dispute over sharing of gas is not an issue to be settled by their mother (Kokilaben). It is for the Centre to decide who should get the gas and at what price," he had said. It is this statement that Ames alluded to in his report.

In his follow-up report on January 8, after the riots, the exiledonline reporter ‘recalled’ his old report on ‘the savage feud between the two Ambanis,’, in which Anil Ambani’s helicopter was nearly downed and it was found that the chopper’s gearbox had gravel and mud. Mukesh, Ames pointed out to add grist to the rumour mills, was accused by Anil himself. Instead of confining himself to politically expedient platitudes, YSR had sprung into action in a bid to give Reliance a run for its money. He set up Andhra Pradesh Gas Infrastructure Corporation to foray into the KG basin, where 89 per cent hydrocarbons still remain unexplored.

Speculation is still rife in AP on the sequence of events on September 2. Instead of the state’s newly-acquired Augusta Westland AW139 helicopter, an old Bell 430, which had a history of mid-air snags and windshield failures, was chosen. Warnings of bad weather on the CM’s proposed route were ignored. According to revelations of an American agency, which decoded the black box conversations, chief pilot Captain S.K. Bhatia was reminded continuously by co-pilot Reddy to change the main route.

Huge amounts allegedly found in Bhatia’s house later and jobs that late pilot’s children landed in Reliance led to doubts about the latter’s role in the mishap. Bhatia’s body was found intact at the crash site. It was suspected that he tried to escape by jumping out of the chopper. The bodies of the other four were in pieces.

Ministers like Danam Nagendar and former minister Mareppa have been vocal about Bhatia’s alleged role in the ‘assassination’ of YSR. The ‘huge’ amount found in Bhatia’s house was the insurance payout from Reliance Money. AP Aviation Corporation had insured with Reliance.

Why did the Telugu news channels decide to exhume a forgotten Russian website report, an editorial decision that triggered a violent reaction across the state? Owing to its limited bandwidth, exiledonline.com could not cope with the sudden increase in traffic and crashed. So, mobile text messages were spread throughout the state, particularly to YSR supporters exhorting them to attack Reliance outlets. As the violence spiralled out of control, politicians did what they are best at – passing the buck.

Telangana politicians accused their Andhra counterparts of creating chaos to divert the nation’s attention from the T issue. Some others alleged that the violence was orchestrated to weaken the ill-fated chief minister K Rosaiah, who has been consistently in the eye of a storm since assuming office under the cloud of YSR's sudden demise.

Chandrababu Naidu, the media savvy Opposition leader who has been mum for the last one month on the ongoing mayhem in the state on the Telangana issue, blamed YSR’ son Y.S.

Jaganmohan Reddy (Jagan) for the violence. Sakshi TV, a news channel owned by Jagan, added fuel to the fire sparked by TV5 by seeking to fish in troubled waters. In the bargain, they only queered the pitch for their boss.

Owing to the ongoing Telengana imbroglio, Andhra Pradesh is constantly on tenterhooks. All it takes to spark violence on the streets in this scenario is the ‘fertile’ journalistic mind of a webzine editor sitting in Russia and the gullibility of a bunch of over-enthusiastic Telugu television scribes. But there is probably more to the affair than currently meets the eye. Beware of speculation.