Apropos of your May 10 cover story, Bootleg Tapes: The Rulers Who Listen, the nsa office functions under the very nose of our prime minister. If the PM was not aware of these illegal phone intercepts, it is an even more grave offence. Errors of commission and omission are equally bad. The very fact that the PM had no control over the nsa is gross inefficiency—which alone should make it imperative that he resign. But then our PM is in office for his “absolute faithfulness to his master’s voice” and not for any political capabilities. The man can’t even get elected to the Lok Sabha, let alone lead a party in elections.
Akil, Bangalore
All these manhours and copious tapping and taping would have been justified if the ntro had managed to foil at least one terrorist attempt. But I guess they were too busy poring over all the salacious details they had pulled out.
Aleka Raju and Sarah David, Bangalore
Outlook has done a great disservice by exposing the ongoing rampant mobile tapping by the upa government. By doing so, you have alerted the wheeler-dealers, the kickback babus and assorted terror troubadours. Unfortunately, all the collateral damage is to the class ‘above’, not the ordinary people. For they wouldn’t have minded someone listening to their woes—even if it was through some tapping.
Rajeev Sinha, Gurgaon
Mercifully, the NTRO technology was not available during Indira Gandhi’s regime. Barring her own family members—and that would not include daughters-in-law—every Tom, Dick and Harry’s phone would have been on the radar. Even without the technology, she had secret dossiers on all her cabinet colleagues.
M.A. Raipet, Secunderabad
The NTRO was purposely designed and set up as a technical organisation so that it could be kept out of the need for “authorisation”. The norm that listening in is wrong does not exist. The protection comes from the fact that well too many people talk and it becomes to difficult handle the huge amount of data.
B. Rajaram, Hyderabad
It seems invasion of one’s privacy is finally an official undertaking. And like other ‘irregularities’, this too will fade away into oblivion. Has there ever been an instance in India when the actual culprit gets punished in such cases?
Angarag Bhuyan, Guwahati
The UPA government’s denial sounds as phony as the saying about “somebody picking lice from the head without one’s knowledge and consent”.
Rajneesh Batra, New Delhi
One hopes “the senior bureaucrat in the MHA” has been moved out of South Block.
Ashok Lal, Mumbai
I am keen to know what happened to this senior bureaucrat who got an Rs 8 crore bribe? Did the government initiate any action at all?
Srinivas, Lucknow
Our honest PM will not talk about this. When there is a Naxal problem, he’ll talk about GDP and growth; when there is a discussion on price rise, he will talk about the Naxals; and when it’s phone-tapping, he will talk about Pakistan. The man is seriously honest.
Satish Mayya, Dubai
Sadly, your expose has brought forth the hypocrisy of our political class, which will bury all hatchets and quickly unite when there is a whiff of even the smallest danger to its own sovereignty.
Rashesh Joshi, Veraval, Saurashtra
I see these incidents as intrusions into the privacy of others, which a responsible country like India cannot validate. However, a convincing reason could endorse such tapping, but it can be justified only if it is in the interests of everyone.
Ramachandran Nair, Oman
The other (D.) Raja of the CPI was so vocal about this phone-tapping business earlier. Now, let him explain how A. Raja’s skeleton would have come out of the closet without the so-called illegal tapping. And that goes for all the rest like him who have been screaming from the tree-tops.
Bennet Paes, Asolna, Goa
If I had any doubts left that Outlook has become a magazine to promote sensationalism, they were fully removed after reading your phony phone-tapping shenanigans. I think the Editor (not his pooch) has got trapped in his own self-importance, being as he is the star of debates in all the news channels now.
Jatinder Sethi, Gurgaon
