I can't quite recall the exact date, but it was on either October 28 or 29, 2012 that I got a call from Sandhya Jain, my longtime friend, professional colleague and fellow activist from the days when both of us were younger, more easily angered, had stronger vocal cords, and could march for long distances without feeling breathless and tired.



While planning Niti Central in 2012, I had sought the help of writers whom I knew well and who would not bargain over fees. Among them was Sandhya Jain, as doughty and intellectually gifted as her father, the venerable Girilal Jain. Her weekly articles at Niti Central were an instant draw. By early-2014 she was writing every day, at times twice a day.



But we digress. So there was Sandhya on the phone, unusually excited. She explained to me how Congress president Sonia Gandhi and her son Rahul had pulled off a "spectacular scam". She had all the documents and was sending a piece. It would be both exclusive and explosive.



My hackles went up. Having suffered twice on account of the Congress's first family, I was wary of putting Niti Central in the line of fire. My two experiences had been far from pleasant. On the first occasion I got away with an anodyne clarification in The Statesman; the next time I found myself squeezed out of my job at The Pioneer, which was before my second stint with the paper.



Send me the documents, I told Sandhya. She mailed them to me. I downloaded them, pored over the details, and was convinced Sandhya did have an exclusive and explosive story. In brief, this is what the documents said:



An elaborate, prima facie ‘deceitful plan’ had been drawn up and implemented to convert a public limited company into a private limited company to facilitate the smash and grab of its real estate assets. It was amazing trickery at best, a stunning scam at worst.



Associated Journal Ltd, or AJL, which was floated by Jawaharlal Nehru in 1937 with the help of hundreds of shareholders to print and publish an English language daily, National Herald, a Urdu daily, Qaumi Awaz, and National Herald International Weekly for readers abroad, had gone flat broke by 2008 after struggling to stay afloat for decades.



AJL had been formed to disseminate nationalist news and views during India's freedom struggle. Its publications were not conceived as Congress organs. In fact, Nehru wanted the papers to be free of party loyalty and self-sustaining. That never happened. Before 1947 the papers in AJL stable were willy-nilly purveyors of Congress views and had to be sustained through shareholder contribution. After 1947, Congress took it on itself to sustain them through Government largesse.



That's how AJL came to own Herald House, a Soviet-style office block on Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg, Delhi's Fleet Street. Actually all the buildings on the street are Soviet-style office blocks. This was the preferred architectural design of the age when Nehru hoped to refashion Delhi after Moscow, though he kept Teen Murti, very Lutyens, to himself. AJL had also come to acquire equally impressive real estate in Lucknow and Mumbai.



In 2008, AJL decided to cease publication of its papers altogether, payoff the remaining staff on its rolls, settle outstanding dues, and shut shop. For this it needed Rs 90 crore. That money was inexplicably provided by the Congress as an 'interest-free loan'. The company became unencumbered of liabilities after settling all accounts.



But that's only the proverbial opening line of a gripping story, intentionally rendered dull and unexciting. In 2010 a trust company, or a non-profit company, was set up with a paid up capital of Rs 5 lakh. Called Young Indian, it had four principal shareholders: Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi with 38 per cent each, and Motilal Vohra and Oscar Fernandez, both old family retainers of the Dynasty, holding the remaining 24 per cent.



Within a month of its formation, Young Indian took over the Rs 90 crore interest-free loan that had been provided to AJL by paying a princely sum of Rs 50 lakh to the Congress. The remaining amount was written off. In effect, AJL now owed Rs 90 crore to Young Indian, among whose directors were Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, Oscar Fernandez, Motilal Vohra, Suman Dubey and Sam Pitroda.



The loan was 'settled' by AJL converting Rs 90 crore into equity shares and handing them over to Young Indian which now became the holding company, owning 99 per cent of AJL and hence its vast properties, believed to be worth more than Rs 2000 crore, a conservative estimate. The original shareholders of AJL, including the famous Katju family, were either short-changed or made to write away their shares.



We ran the story on Niti Central, on October 29, 2012, (Read the story here) played it up on the home page, publicised it on social media and got a tidal wave of response. The next day I received an e-mail from a person claiming to be from Rahul Gandhi's office. Curtly, sternly, I was asked to apologise for publishing the report, remove it from the server and desist from printing anything further. I ignored the mail and ran a second story by Sandhya, arguing why the National Herald Scam was fit for inquiry, investigation and prosecution.



A couple of days later the then CEO of Niti Central called me from Mumbai late in the afternoon and conveyed the owners' "serious concerns and reservations" over the National Herald story. I argued that we had the documents and it was my decision as Editorial Director to run the story. The conversation ended on an iffy note.



After about five minutes, during which I presume he reported our conversation to the owners and took their instructions, I got a second call from him, asking me to courier the documents 'asap' as it was felt legal and expert opinion should be sought. I said fine and asked the office assistant to courier a set of the documents to Mumbai.



Next day the CEO called to say it was all accounting technicality, that it would be difficult to prove malfeasance in a court of law, etc. I knew where he was coming from and hummed and hawed and ended the conversation. I asked Sandhya to keep at the story, which she did. No other media touched the story with a barge-pole.



Meanwhile, the owners began looking for a 'Number Two' who would be the operations head and take orders directly from Mumbai. My choice of the person for the job was expectedly and understandably rejected; another person was appointed. It didn't quite work out the way the owners wanted, but that's another story to be told another day.



I am proud to have worked for publications and platforms that broke stories on grand larceny and loot of public funds which we call corruption. At The Statesman, we pursued the Bofors scandal. At The Pioneer, my colleague Gopi exposed the 2G scam. In our own way, at Niti Central we kept the fight alive by exposing the National Herald scam.



Public memory is short. People forget the small bushfires that trigger raging blazes. I am thankful to Sunanda Vashisht, who was a regular contributor to Niti Central and very much a part of the team, for remembering how the National Herald fire started. If the case is taken to its logical conclusion, Niti Central and Sandhya Jain would deserve a slice of the credit.

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