Why has this book on GSPC accused Gujarat journos for failing to question Modi hype

By Rajiv Shah

It's indeed a shocking accusation, especially for we Gujarat-based journalists. Subir Ghosh -- the writer who shot into prominence for controversially criticising Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL), India's top industrial house, for cronyism in a book he co-authored, "Gas Wars: Crony Capitalism and the Ambanis" -- has called Gujarat-based journalists, without naming them, of "intellectual laziness" for failing to expose state PSU Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation (GSPC).
In his new book, which was released recently in Ahmedabad ahead of state assembly elections, "Grand Illusion: The GSPC Disaster and the Gujarat Model", Ghosh does not stop here, he continues to heap insults on Gujarat journalists, saying, they did not report or question the the GSPC's actual reserves in its Krishna-Godavari misadventure, announced by Narendra Modi to be 20 trillion cubic feet (tcf).
Ghosh says, not only did newspaper reports seemed to buy the Modi argument of the 20 tcf claim as being "proved" reserves’, wrongly believing that "the gas in place" were "economic predictions" not based on actual numbers, he complains, "No journalist questioned the numbers since they would not have known the difference"!
The book, which, ironically, is a collection of media reports on GSPC, with little original investigation, apparently, conveniently skips my Times of India (TOI) reports in 2005 and 2006, which for the first time said (click HERE for details), quoting Gujarat government officials, that the gas find was all hype, nothing else, and it was "not more than 2 tcf (just 10 per cent of what Modi had claimed)" with not more than two-thirds being "recoverable.”
The story first appeared in TOI in 2005 after unconfirmed reports began to trickle in Gandhinagar Sachivalaya quoting sources in DG hydrocarbons, the Central regulator, that the gas find was quite low. Since the DG was a UPA appointee, and therefore possibly couldn’t be relied upon, the effort was made to confirm it from state officials. The story specifically said: The 20 tcf balloon had been pricked.
Recalling how Modi announced the 20 tcf claim before media in June 2005, Ghosh seems to make appear as if he was present on the occasion. His book describes it thus: "After three days of rains, the skies began clearing up that Sunday evening. As the day languorously drew to a close, journalists in Gandhinagar/Ahmedabad were jolted out from their weekend lethargy and summoned to a press conference that was to be addressed by Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi."

Interestingly, Ghosh doesn't know: Modi called his "urgent" press conference, where I was prrsent, to announce the “biggest ever gas find in India”, valuing at around Rs 2 lakh crore, at the Sardar Patel Institute of Public Administration (SPIPA), Ahmedabad, and we journalists -- whom he calls "lazy" -- had to reach the site amidst heavy rains lashing the city that day morning (not evening after "three days of rain").
Banking on information provided by Congress leader Shaktisinh Gohil, Ghosh in his book admits, the Opposition leader failed to create a stir around GSPC, with the TOI, Ahmedabad, "burying" what all he said on the sixth page in a single column, even though what he wanted to reveal "has been crying to be re-told" ever since.
Seeking to give full credit to Gohil, Ghosh says, "To his credit and in hindsight, he had raised the right questions, and even rattled off the right numbers", but regretting, "If journalists in Ahmedabad and elsewhere in Gujarat did not pursue the thread, it would have been either because of their own intellectual laziness, or their perception of the entire episode being that of unsubstantiated rants of a political leader out to get his rival party by hook or by crook."
The story that Gohil came up with was about "a dubious deal between the GSPC and a Canada-based company called GeoGlobal Resources", which held "a 10 per cent stake in the Krishna-Godavari Basin gas exploration project of GSPC", says Ghosh, even as quoting Gohil as saying, "At the time of offering the 10 per cent stake in the KG Basin block by [the] GSPC to GeoGlobal, the capital stock of GeoGlobal stood at a meagre $64..."
Calling Gohil "wise", Ghosh says, "He refrained from turning it into a BJP-Congress mud-fight, and assertively demanded a white paper on the subject from the government. The roles of chief minister Narendra Modi, minister of state for energy Saurabh Patel and other bureaucrats needed to be examined, he declared."
However, again Ghosh laments, attacking Gujarat journalists, "Still, he failed to cut ice. Once again, TOI relegated him to the same sixth page. Gujarati language newspapers gave the subject more prominence, but that was all. Goings-on at the GSPC remained news only of ‘local’ interest, that too of not much financial importance. The BJP maintained a cavalier attitude and remained dismissive of Gohil."

Ignorance is bliss, especially when you write a book whose sole aim is to ensure that facts -- imagined and real -- should fall in line with ideological considerations.

Comments

The golden crop: How turmeric is transforming women's lives in tribal India

By Vikas Meshram* When the lush green fields of turmeric sway in the tribal belt of southern Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, and Gujarat, it is not merely a spice crop — it is the golden glow of self-reliance. In villages where even basic spices once had to be bought from the market, the very soil today is yielding a prosperity that has transformed the lives of thousands of families. At the heart of this transformation is the initiative of Vaagdhara, which has linked turmeric with livelihoods, nutrition, and village self-governance — gram swaraj.

Swami Vivekananda's views on caste and sexuality were 'painfully' regressive

By Bhaskar Sur* Swami Vivekananda now belongs more to the modern Hindu mythology than reality. It makes a daunting job to discover the real human being who knew unemployment, humiliation of losing a teaching job for 'incompetence', longed in vain for the bliss of a happy conjugal life only to suffer the consequent frustration.

Buddhist shrines were 'massively destroyed' by Brahmanical rulers: Historian DN Jha

Nalanda mahavihara By Rajiv Shah Prominent historian DN Jha, an expert in India's ancient and medieval past, in his new book , "Against the Grain: Notes on Identity, Intolerance and History", in a sharp critique of "Hindutva ideologues", who look at the ancient period of Indian history as "a golden age marked by social harmony, devoid of any religious violence", has said, "Demolition and desecration of rival religious establishments, and the appropriation of their idols, was not uncommon in India before the advent of Islam".

Authoritarian destruction of the public sphere in Ecuador: Trumpism in action?

By Pilar Troya Fernández The situation in Ecuador under Daniel Noboa's government is one of authoritarianism advancing on several fronts simultaneously to consolidate neoliberalism and total submission to the US international agenda. These are not isolated measures, but rather a coordinated strategy that combines job insecurity, the dismantling of the welfare state, unrestricted access to mining, the continuation of oil exploitation without environmental considerations, the centralization of power through the financial suffocation of local governments, and the systematic criminalization of all forms of opposition and popular organization.

Echoes of Vietnam and Chile: The devastating cost of the I-A Axis in Iran

By Ram Puniyani The recent joint military actions by Israel and the United States against Iran have been devastating. Like all wars, this conflict is brutal to its core, leaving a trail of human suffering in its wake. The stated pretext for this aggression—the brutality of the Ayatollah Khamenei regime and its nuclear ambitions—clashes sharply with the reality of the diplomatic landscape. Iran had expressed a willingness to remain at the negotiating table, signaling a readiness to concede points emerging from dialogue.

False claim? What Venezuela is witnessing is not surrender but a tactical retreat

By Manolo De Los Santos The early morning hours of January 3, 2026, marked an inflection point in Venezuela and Latin America’s centuries-long struggle for self-determination and independence. Operation Absolute Resolve, ordered by the Trump administration, constituted the most brutal and direct military assault on a sovereign state in the region in recent memory. In a shocking operation that left hundreds dead, President Nicolás Maduro and First Lady Cilia Flores were illegally kidnapped from Venezuelan soil and transported to the United States, where they now face fabricated charges in a New York federal detention facility. In the two months since this act of war, a torrent of speculation has emerged from so-called experts and pundits across the political spectrum. This has followed three main lines: One . The operation’s success indicated treason at the highest levels of the Bolivarian Revolution. Two . Acting President Delcy Rodríguez and the remaining leadership have abandone...

The selective memory of a violent city: Uttam Nagar and the invisible victims of Delhi

By Sunil Kumar* Hundreds of murders take place in Delhi every year, yet only a few incidents become topics of nationwide discussion. The question is: why does this happen? Today, the incident in Uttam Nagar has become the centre of national debate. A 26-year-old man, Tarun Kumar, was killed following a dispute that reportedly began after a balloon hit a small child. In several colonies of Delhi, slogans such as “Jai Shri Ram” and “Vande Mataram” are being raised while demanding the death penalty for Tarun’s killers. As a result, nearly 50,000 residents of Hastsal JJ Colony are now living in what resembles a state of confinement.

The price of silence: Why Modi won’t follow Shastri, appeal for sacrifice

By Arundhati Dhuru, Sandeep Pandey* In 1965, as India grappled with war and a crippling food crisis, Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri faced a United States that used wheat shipments under the PL-480 agreement as a lever to dictate Indian foreign policy. Shastri’s response remains legendary: he appealed to the nation to skip one meal a day. Millions of middle-class households complied, choosing temporary hunger over the sacrifice of national dignity. Today, India faces a modern equivalent in the energy sector, yet the leadership’s response stands in stark contrast to that era of self-reliance.

Love letters in a lifelong war: Babusha Kohli’s resistance in verse

By Ravi Ranjan* “War does not determine who is right—only who is left.” Bertrand Russell’s words echo hauntingly in our times, and few contemporary Hindi poets embody this truth as profoundly as Babusha Kohli. Emerging from Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh, Kohli has carved a unique space in literature by weaving together tenderness, protest, and philosophy across poetry, prose, and cinema. Her work is not merely artistic expression—it is resistance, refuge, and a call for peace.

Search This Blog