Tata Tapes controversy

The "Tata Tapes" controversy was a political scandal in India that was the culmination of a series of allegations of anti-national conduct levied by the then Chief Minister of Assam, Prafulla Kumar Mahanta, against the Tatas – their company Tata Tea in particular. The controversy erupted when journalist Ritu Sarin of the Indian Express broke a story that involved the illegal tapping of the telephone calls of business tycoon Nusli Wadia and published, on 4–5 October 1997, transcripts of the telephone conversations he had with Keshub Mahindra, Field Marshal Sam Maneckshaw, then Rajya Sabha Member of Parliament Jayant Malhoutra and Ratan Tata about Tata Tea's problems with the Assam Government.

History

In the 1990s, the banned terror outfit United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) was extremely active in Assam, and had been extorting money from tea companies to fund its activities. That most companies were paying up in fear was a well known fact. But Tata Tea never did, and this was confirmed by ULFA Commander-in-Chief Paresh Baruah in an interview published by Rediff.com, though according to Baruah, they did pay a ransom of ₹10 million in 1993 to secure the release of their regional manager Bolin Bordoloi from the clutches of another banned terror outfit, National Democratic Front of Bodoland, something that Tata Tea executive director S. M. Kidwai denied.

During 1997, the ULFA and Bodo militants were involved in many terror attacks and other militant activities, the biggest ones being the failed assassination attempt by ULFA on Chief Minister Prafulla Kumar Mahanta, head of the government of Assam formed by the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) party, and the murder of social activist Sanjay Ghose by ULFA. And this last incident received wide publicity and focused attention on the deteriorating law and order condition in Assam, threatening the very survival of the Mahanta government; his previous government had been dismissed in 1990 in similar circumstances.

Before the assembly elections that brought the AGP back to power, Mahanta had visited Calcutta to raise funds for his party, and the tea companies had not responded well to the demand; Tata Tea in particular had refused to pay.

Pranati Deka's arrest

On 23 August 1997, Pranati Deka, central committee member and cultural secretary of ULFA was arrested with her baby at Mumbai's Santa Cruz airport along with two accomplices. A visiting card belonging to a senior Tata Tea executive was recovered from one of the accomplices. According to the police, Brojen Gogoi, a senior manager with the Community Development and Social Welfare wing of the company, had accompanied Deka to Mumbai for child-birth, and the cost of medical treatment and lodging – amounting to INR 50,000 was paid by Tata Tea.