“No One Likes To Be Exposed. Jindal Wants To Pull Me Down.”

Subhash Chandra, non-executive chairman of the Zee media group, jokes that he was “unemployed and Naveen Jindal has given me employment”. Employees of his channel are in jail on charges of extorting money from the Jindal group. It’s an all-out war and in the first exclusive interview since it broke, Chandra met Anuradha Raman at his bungalow on Delhi’s posh Kautilya Marg. A shorter, edited version of this appeared in print.

Why is Naveen Jindal targeting you?

People in the ruling party, the opposition or just different members of parliament, generally in all these classes, there is a kind of dislike for CAG, media and the judiciary. Nobody wants to be exposed. There was a time when television and magazines and newspapers were not there, you could call a couple of newspaper editors, and things would not come into the limelight. Today anything happening in any part of the country gets on air within an hour. And people don't like negative reports. What Jindal has been telling people is, "Look, I will deliver and tha media will be tamed."

Is this an attack on media?

This is Naveen Jindal's version. Naveen Jindal has chosen us. Naa woh hamara jouranlist ko maarta. Naa hamara newsroom uske khilaf hotaa. Naa hii ye matter hona thaa. Coal scam hua. (If he hadn't manhandled our journalist, our newroom wouldn't have gone against him, nor this matter have arisen. The coal scam happened). Everyone reported. Within three days, everything was quiet. Some other major story broke. But when he manhandled the journalist, the newsroom woke up to the attack. Then the telecast was re-started. Still, they were going slow. He somehow tried to bribe the editors, adding fuel to the fire. Actions like that have resulted in this. I didn't even know about this. I was away in America. I was told he tried to bribe the company with a Rs 25 crore advertisement deal. He followed this with a "Contract to bhejo bhai! (At least send the contract for the ads!)" Our editors asked, "For how many years?" He said, "Four years". The editors sent the contract for four years, Rs 25 crores every year, a total of Rs 100 crores.

Are you saying they changed it to Rs 100 crores?

The editors became a little more excited. I was told by Zee later that he was the largest beneficiary in the coal scam. The editors thought, if he is offering all this, why don't we get it signed? Humko to paisa nahin lena, they felt. They decided to go on air air with the proof and to say: " We were offered bribes personally". Nobody believed them. The CEO of Zee News did not allow Samir [Ahluwalia] and Sudhir [Chowdhury] to go or air to say that they had been offered a bribe. " Where is the proof?" he asked  As a responsible news channel we could not  go on air just saying they bribed us. The meeting was sought by them. Not us.

Do you think slap and its telecast worried Jindal?

Yes. Other channels also showed it. I started getting calls from September 22 onwards from their friends, common friends. I don't want to name them; I have already told the police. I said they had tried to bribe us. We have not accepted any bribe. In between, when he (Navin Jindal) called me, I told him, "Why are you telling a lie? I believe you are trying to bribe my people.' He started saying band karaiye (stop it). I said, I cannot stop the telecast. I asked him to talk to Jawahar Goel. That's when his [Navin Jindal's] mother and brother sat down to talk to Jawahar to sort it all out.

Why did he get so worried only about what your channel was showing when others were showing the same?

He does not expect Zee to do this because feels a certain ownership. Our relationship goes back to three-four generations. My father introduced Om Prakash ji Jindal to Kurukshetra. My father was the election manager in Haryana. We hail from the same community, from a place called Agroha. My father is considered a patriarch--and the Agroha temple complex developed by my father is like a pilgrimage for all Aggarwals. My father's word is the last word throughout the country as far as the Aggarwal community is concerned.

Is there a problem when editors are business heads?

Our system is very clear. His business is confined only to the management of the channel. Cost side, human resource development, other organs of business like ad sales don't report to the business editor. He doesn't go on sales calls. We do at least 30 events and how can they be done without editorial support? If he is the business head, there is no tension in the organisation. For instance, in the Indian Express, editor- in- chief Shekhar Gupta is also the CEO and the editor. Even if salaries have to raised, he has to take a call. Everybody does that.

Is there a code of conduct in place for Zee news channels?

Our business is to get raw news from various sources, and confirm it before we telecast. We are in a content- creation business. Other aspects of the business cannot be ignored by the content creator. I am sure in your organisation too there is a conflict between editorial side and marketing. The organisation does suffer and people suffer.

Are you being victimised by the government? Early this year, the government froze advertisements to your flagship newspaper DNA...

I don't think my chhota bhai (my younger brother -- referring to Naveen Jindal) is using the name of the government. I am told he has promised the political class that he would tame the media. " I have hoisted the Indian flag, and I can tame the media too," he appears to be saying. Somebody told me, I am the only fighter and that's why he wants to pull me down (dha dena).