Let's not silence the Snoopgate scandal

Now that the dust has settled what does one make of allegations that a young woman was followed all over Gujarat and into other states by Gujaratrsquos AntiTerrorism Squad and other agencies in 2009 that her phone and those of her close associates were tapped and that all this was monitored by the statersquos then home minister on the instructions of the chief minister Deafening silence Narendra Modi as is wellknown does not like to answer tough questions or indeed anything that makes him uncomfortable The Bharatiya Janata Party BJP has not unnaturally come out in full force to support Narendra Modi since he is not just the chief minister of Gujarat but also a prime ministerial hopeful But there was a tactical error on the partyrsquos defence strategy mdash getting the womanrsquos father to confirm the allegations made by two news websites Cobrapost and Gulail that the surveillance had been done and that the chief minister was involved Had the party just gone into outright denialu00a0their arguments might be more convincing Instead BJP spokespersons have had to pretend that following and phonetapping is the same as offering protection The ldquopainrdquo expressed by BJPrsquos top leaders that anyone can question the womanrsquos father on this matter is so manufactured that I would hazard even they arenrsquot convinced The Congress has been its usual topsyturvy self on the issue sometimes upping the ante other times forgetting They need help from well from the BJP actually on how to react publicly to an issue One gets a distinct feeling that the Congress is really frightened by Modi and is unsure about how to tackle him It was only the media obsession with the Tarun Tejpal case which knocked lsquoSahebrsquo Modirsquos nickname apparently and the surveillance story off the front pages and prime time news television That gave the BJP a bit of a reprieve And it must have hoped that everyone had forgotten As it happens not Although Union Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde has now said that the Union government cannot order a probe into a state matter and that the state Gujarat has ordered a probe into it anyway the story is back And it is still fascinating for all that it does not tell us Like how much state money was spent protecting this woman What was the threat that warranted the AntiTerrorism Squad being involved If the woman knew about it mdash as her father claims mdash why was her phone tapped Imagine if this story had been about any other state and any other chief minister in todayrsquos mediafrenzied world Would there have been so much tiptoeing over the issue Would the chief minister not have been called to account Segments of the media are often accused of being antiNarendra Modi and in the pay of the Congress Yet this subject has to be looked at through other nonparanoid prisms as well Modi wants to be the next prime minister of India His behaviour and his statements must therefore be held to a higher scrutiny So far his speeches have told us that his understanding of Indian history and the Indian Constitution are somewhat tenuous We still do not have a clear picture mdash in any number of televised speeches mdash on his ideas about foreign policy and the economy apart from a constant reference to the Gujarat model and the implication that it is perfect We need answers from Modi but Modi as is wellknown does not like to answer tough questions or indeed anything that makes him uncomfortable That is possibly another aspect of the lsquoGujarat modelrsquo we need to think about And now we learn that his government mdash never mind the other things it has been accused of by now from riots to fake encounter deaths mdash has been involved with a bizarre surveillance on a private citizen And will not tell us why There is a case for senior Indian politicians to talk a little more to the people and posture a little less The Congress would have gained from allowing the Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh and its president Sonia Gandhi to be interviewed more often though anything that happens now will be perceived as too little too late Right now though the focus has to be on Modi How safe will the private citizen be from his snooping if he ever becomes prime ministeru00a0 Ranjona Banerji is a senior journalist You can follow her on twitter ranjona