If you thought the vindictive publishing of email IDs of a million Indians by TRAI was a fluke, think again.
About a year ago, PM Narendra Modi promulgated the first ordinance of the NDA-II government to get former TRAI chief Nripendra Misra as principal secretary in the Union government.
Till then, rules prohibited the TRAI chief from taking any official position in the state or central governments within two years of demitting the TRAI position. This was to ensure that the TRAI chief does not take any official action expecting future benefits.
However, Modi changed the rules of the game.
Now, do we have a TRAI chief doing exactly what is expected of him -- browbeating dissenters into submission? And that too without any threat of the Union government getting tainted?
If you still harbour any doubts over TRAI chief Khullar's attempts to butter up Modi, then good luck!
We perhaps got another glimpse of the 'Modis Operandi' when Justice Sathasivam was made a governor. Soon we had another Supreme Court Chief Justice, H L Dattu, dumping constitutional propriety and praising the PM. (Sathasivam himself acted smart. Just after his retirement, the man got a story on himself planted in TOl, which said he was going back to farming in his native village -- evoking both admiration and a sense of wasted talent)
This kind of favoritism did wonders for Modi as Gujarat CM. The Gujarat model is on full display now in Delhi.
