National Herald Frauds: An Expose

A look at the world of politics, statecraft, diplomacy and books

National Herald Frauds

Author Shree Iyer

California USA, Jan 2021

The book authored by Shree Iyer, an engineer turned

entrepreneur, makes  an interesting read but it is cast not as a narrative account of the Scandal but rather as a series of short pithy reports on the National Herald Frauds (in plural). This is a case brought out by the BJP MP and a leading light of the political firmament of India, Dr Subramanian Swamy.http://creative.sulekha.com/subramanian-swamy-and-indian-politics-why-india-needs-a-ruthless-hunter_553763_blog. Nearly 10 years back we have drawn attention to the great work done by Dr Swamy in his ruthless hunt against Crime and Corruption in the field of Indian politics. He exposed the 2G Scandal which involved the leading figures in the Dynastic Fascist DMK Party and he followed it with the expose on the National Herald Frauds. The Congress interim President her son and several of her Congress colleagues have been enlarged on bail for serious fraud as a consequence of Dr Swamy's relentless quest for truth. It is unfortunate that the case is not getting the attention it deserves and prosecution has virtually stalled, perhaps at the behest of the Congress itself.

What are the National Herald Frauds? The Associated Journals of India was launched by Jawaharlal Nehru, the second Prime Minister of India, in 1938 as a public limited Company to run the propaganda arm of the Congress Party, the National Herald. Interestingly, the shareholders of the public limited Company were not given any opportunity of being consulted over the transfer of the properties of the Associated Journals of India to a new organization which was floated in 2012 called Young Indian. Over the many years of Congress rule, the Associated Journals of India had acquired several tracts of prime real estate in almost all the major urban centers of India, including Delhi, Chennai, Mumbai and Chandigarh. An interesting feature of the transaction lay in the fact that the directors of the Associated Journals of India were almost identical with the dominant controlling interests of the Young Indian. The total worth of the properties acquired by the Associated Journals of India was 2000 crores and all these extensive valuable real estate was now transferred to the Young Indian, the new shell company created to transfer  the property. 

The cartoon illustrated on the left provides an insight into the mechanics of this fraud. The same set of persons operating in their capacity as directors or shareholders of the AJI transferred the properties belonging to the National Herald holding Company to the shell company created to receive the properties on behalf of the Young Indian and interestingly enough both were identical. In other  words a set of public servants had colluded to defraud a public limited Company of its property. The debts of the Associated Journals of India were taken over by the Young Indian for mere 90 crores.

Dr Subramanian Swamy the relentless Crusader against Corruption and Dynastic Fascism filed a private complaint against Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and several other worthies of the Congress Party in the High Court of Delhi in February 2013.  The charges against these worthies included cheating and criminal conspiracy to grab 2000 crores of land and assets. When the Mother-Son duo were asked to appear before the Court of Law the entire Congress Party went into convulsions. The Party tried all kinds of underhand measures and strategies to have the case either stayed or thrown out. But the relentless Dr Swamy has prevailed so far. The Income Tax Department of the Ministry of Finance in a 105 page document has shown that the entire transaction was indeed a sham. Attempts to portray the prosecution in the National Herald Scam as political vendetta has drawn a blank even from the Dynastic Fascist friendly English Press which includes the Hindu, Times of India and Hindustan Times. And the Central Government under the Prime Minister the Hon ble Narendra Modi has kept itself out of the limelight so as to deflect the charge of vendetta.

The Case is now in the courts and legal opinion is unanimous that it will end in convictions. But does that mean the end of political corruption in India. Perhaps not. But India needs a ruthless honest hunter like Dr Swamy to make its politicians understand that the Law Governs the Country and not Outlaws.

I like this book in spite of its unusual format,

The Untold Story of Hicky's Bengal Gazette: Scandal, Blackmail and Corruption in Old Calcutta

A look at the world of politics, statecraft, diplomacy and books

The Untold Story of India's First Newspaper

Andrew Otis

Madras: Westland Publications Private Ltd, 2018.

The History of the print media is an exiting field of research thanks to the pioneering works of Roger Chartier and Robert Darnton. Like Elizabeth Eisenstein who emphasized the revolutionary character of print as a medium that brought about a fundamental transformation  in society, both the historians mentioned studied the impact of print by analyzing the social groups which patronized the mass produced chap books, almanacs, and other uses of print. Darnton set his eyes on the great project of the eighteenth century, the publication of Diderot's Encyclopedia. Andrew Otis has a more humble quarry. He has studied the Bengal Gazette, a Newspaper which was started by James Augustus Hicky in Calcutta in 1780. The book is an exploration of the trials and tribulations faced by Hicky as he took on the powerful Governor of Bengal, Warren Hastings, 

Printing began in India in the tiny coastal village of Tranquebar in 1714  when Prussian missionaries from Halle established a printing press as support to carry out their evangelical activities. The troubles that Hicky faced in Calcutta stemmed from one Protestant missionary from Tranquebar who set up shop in Cuddalore and then moved to Calcutta, Johann Zacharias Kiernander who was seconded to India by the Society for the Promotion of Christian Knowledge according to Hicky was more interested in making money and he accused him of systematically defrauding the Society. Not content with his broadsides against the missionary, Hicky carried out a campaign against Warren Hastings accusing him of corruption and using the Chief Justice of the Sadr Adalat Eliah Impey as his accomplice, in extortion, corruption in Military Contracts and plain thuggery that will perhaps shame even an Indian politician today. Hicky was particularly savage in his attacks on Hasting regarding his war against the Rohillas which was waged for the sole purpose of seizing the wealth of the "Begums of Oudh", the grand dames of Awadh. Hicky compared Warren Hastings with Clive, his predecessor and obviously even Warren Hastings was not amused.

Both Kiermnader and Hastings brought charges of libel against Hicky and in spite of the Jury finding Hicky not guilty of most of the serious charges, he was sent to prison, making him the first martyr for the Independence of the Press. The four years that he spent in Jail weakened his health, drained his resources and impoverished his family. in 1799 Hicky died on his way to China and was buried at sea, off the coast of Malacca.

The book is written in a highly readable style and there is no attempt at painting heroes and villains and this is welcome. Warren Hastings was recalled as the news of his egregious corruption reached the House of Commons and the main articles of impeachment wer drawn up by Edmund Burke on the basis of Hicky's scathing attacks: the illegal execution of Nanda Coomar, the Poolbandy Army Contracts, the Affair of the Begums of Awadh being the most noteworthy. After a trial that lasted nearly 8 long years, and 5 changes in the British Government, Wrren Hastings was acquitted.

As a contribution to the history of the East India Company, the book is not of any importance. However, the life of Hicky as he took on the powerful officers of the East India Company is of great importance. In a foreign land, Hicky tried in vain as it turned out in his lifetime, to establish the Freedom of the Press. He refused to divulge the names of his sources, a strategy he could have used to deflect the charges of libel on to his informants. And for this adherence to principle we need to remember Hicky. The records of his trial by sheer happenstance have survived and I am sure that it will attract greater attention.