Tata Tapes Controversy - illegal Tapping of Phone Calls of Nusli Wadia

A big political scandal in India took place in the 1990s that involved the owners of a company called Tata Tea, terrorist group ULFA (United Liberation Front of Assam), and the Assam government.  Prafulla Kumar Mahanta, the then Chief Minister of Assam alleged that Tata Tea was involved in conduct deemed anti-national. 

The situation came to light when a journalist for Indian Express, Ritu Sarin, published a story regarding illegal tapping of phone calls of Nusli Wadia, a business tycoon.    The transcripts were published and involved a number of high profile individuals, including a Rajya Sabha Member of Parliament, and Ratan Tata.

The History Behind the Controversy

It was during the 1990s that the ULFA, a banned terror group, had been very active in the Assam area.  The group had been extorting funds from tea companies as a means of funding their activities.  Fear made most of the tea companies pay the ULFA, however, Tata Tea refused.  In 1997, ULFA was responsible for a number of militant activities and terror attacks.  One such attack was the failed attempt at an assassination against the Chief Minister who headed the Assam government, Prafulla Kumar Mahanta.  It brought publicity to the breaking down of law and order of the Assam region, which negatively impacted the Mahanta government.  It was during similar circumstances in 1990 that his previous government was dismissed.  

Mahanta visited Calcutta to raise funding for his party before the assembly elections but did not get a good response from the tea companies, more importantly from Tata Tea, who refused to pay anything.

In August of 1997 an ULFA member, Pranati Deka, was arrested, along with her baby and two others.  They found a visiting card on one of the accomplices belonging to one of Tata Tea's senior executives, Brojen Gogoi.  It was reported that he had gone with Deka to Mumbai for her to give birth and cover her medical costs and lodgings.  Tata Tea had paid INR 50,000 and claimed it had not been aware of Deka's link to the ULFA.

Tata Tea top officials were interrogated by the Assam police, leading to the arrest of General Manager, SS Dogra under the charge of aiding and abetting ULFA in their unlawful activities.  Gogoi was also wanted for questioning but authorities were unable to arrest him at the time.  He was reported to have been abroad studying, however, reports claimed he was using a guest house in India to avoid the police.  It wasn't until September that he turned himself in.

The Tata Tapes

The Tata tapes held conversations that took place between Nusli Wadia and a number of powerful industrial and political individuals.  The tapes proved that the Tatas were attempting to coerce the central government to step in to deal with the issues they were having with the Assam government.  It was also suggested that the Tatas were aware of Gogoi's whereabouts and had lied to the Assam government when questioned. 

The mystery in this situation is who actually tapped Wadia's phones,  The Central Government denied that it was them, and a probe was launched to find out who was responsible for infringing on these individual's privacy. 

The controversy brought to light what the Assam tea industry was dealing with for the past two decades, grabbing the attention of the entire country.  The industry had been putting up with extortion, kidnapping, and murder by militants of both the ULFA and NDFB (National Democratic Front of Bodoland). 


References:

1. http://indiatodaygroup.com/itoday/20101997/cov.html
2. http://www.india-today.com/btoday/22101997/tata.html
3. http://www.rediff.com/news/oct/13assam.htm
4. http://www.rediff.com/business/sep/15tata.htm
5. http://www.rediff.com/business/sep/16assam.htm
6.https://web.archive.org/web/19971007063854/http://www.expressindia.com:80/ie/daily/19971007/28050903.html
7.https://web.archive.org/web/19971023074806/http://www.expressindia.com:80/ie/daily/19971006/27950853.html