Mumbai: Unlike the Watergate expos, which was turned into the blockbuster Hollywood movie All The Presidents Men, based on the book written by The Washington Post reporters Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward, it is unlikely that a similar movie would be attempted by Bollywood on the Petrolgate scandal.

Petrol pumps and LPG gas connections have no sense of glamour. The Indian Express story, which has been rocking India for the last one week, has no place for sex, leg-show or sleaze. But it is unadulterated, dazzling investigative journalism. We in the profession are proud of that.

Shekhar Gupta, the editor-in-chief of the Express, has every right to pat himself and his colleagues on the back. As the paper said, this was not file-snatching journalism, there were no sexy sound bites, no talking heads discussing ethics in a studio. No spy camera, no faking identities. In fact, the Express story went back to the good old traditions of great journalism.

Reporters, men and women, went around with notebooks and pencils, talked to hundreds of people, did not mind rebuffs and knew that they had a winner as the story slowly took shape. As a long-time media watcher, the Express has puzzled me. The paper does not offer bulging pay packets or perks. Yet something in its work culture, or environment, urges reporters to reach for the sky.

Admittedly, some of the earlier exposs have been coloured by a political angle, like the one on former Maharashtra chief minister A R Antulay and his policy of distribution of cement. The three-year long crusade against Dhirubhai Ambani and his Reliance was not investigative journalism; it was pure and simple vendetta, which backfired because it reduced journalism to a sordid personal battle.

It is not known so far as to what prompted the paper to go for Petrolgate. Journalists who cover politics in New Delhi can sniff scandals in any ministry. The skills of a journalist lie in pursuing a fact without the rival papers becoming aware of it. The Express appears to have succeeded in this aspect.

But looking at the current media scene, it is doubtful if some of the bigger papers would have followed up the story even if they had some clues to what the Express was after. They are obsessed with trivia like the price war or paying homage to fashion celebrities. In the days to come, their contribution to Petrolgate could well be hosting parties organised at petrol pumps with an ad boss dressed up as Ram Naik in the costumes of Santa Claus.

Thank heavens, The Indian Express does not succumb to this celebrity craze. Its city pullout, of course, has its own share of glamour and celebrity columns, but at least its front page always comes out with stories packing a punch. More importantly, reporters follow up these stories and try to find out what happens to the people and institutions mentioned in these.

As a media watcher, I have always discovered that the character of a newspaper depends much on the approach and personality of its editor. M J Akbar made The Telegraph a remarkable newspaper in the early eighties because he was a natural news hound who did not sit in an air-conditioned cabin and worried about the existentialism of Sartre or Camus. Thus Akbar turned The Telegraph into a reporters paper, which is what a newspaper should be. Despite the onerous duties of an editor, Akbars first love has always been on spot reporting and in many cases he was there when something major broke out.

Gupta, a maturer version of Akbar, is of the same mould a typical news hound. Over the years, he has built enviable contacts in New Delhi, the state capitals and even abroad. He has followed and reported on national and international events and has worked himself to the position of Indias most well-known journalist. No one can deny him that stature. He is equipped with a healthy disregard for conventions and, for most part, not believing a word of what politicians say. These are commendable qualities for an Indian journalist.

No wonder, Gupta has a penchant for investigative journalism. An expos of the Petrolgate kind needs immense planning, time, perhaps money, and goading reporters to collect that one bit of elusive information to nail the guilty where it hurts most. There are no shortcuts to this kind of a story one cannot collect such telling evidences over glasses of rum at the Press Club or when entertained by corporate heads at five star hotels. It has to be done by going to the people, explaining the relevance of the story and seeking their cooperation.

Easier said than done. One major reason why investigative journalism has not progressed much in India is due to the reluctance of our bureaucrats, and for that matter anyone in public life, to part with a bit of even innocuous information that the public has every right to know. Try explaining that to a stiff-necked bureaucrat. He thrives on using the two magic words: No comments. India, unfortunately, does not have many Deep Throats who gave much of the Watergate information to Bernstein and Woodward, which enabled them to establish the guilt of President Richard Nixon, thus forcing him to resign.

No government is happy with a nosy newspaper and its editor. While there is so much talk about freedom of the press, there must be some gnashing of teeth among the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) top-brass at the impertinence of the Express, which, once upon a time, was reportedly close to the BJP.

Former editor Arun Shouries sympathies were clearly with the BJP, while Ramnath Goenka, the owner of the paper, had clearly looked upon the BJP as a natural successor to the Congress. Perhaps that was why the Express during the eighties went after Antulay and Ambani, great admirers of Indira Gandhi.

Now that Petrolgate has been exposd, what next? Will Petroleum Minister Ram Naik resign or try to brazen it out as he has been doing so far? In a TV interview, Naik kept on insisting that he has done nothing wrong and mentioned that the allocation of petrol pumps and LPG gas connections was decided by committees which included retired judges. He hasnt helped even a single person from his discretionary quota, he said. But Naik will not be able to get away so easily and will have to pay the price.

It is interesting to speculate on who would have tipped off the Express because all major investigative stories begin with a hint, a small clue. Naik has been totally opposed to any kind of disinvestment of the petroleum companies and had frequent clashes with Arun Shourie, the minister of disinvestment.

Shourie, in a series of articles in the Express, had defended his policies and lashed out at his critics. In fact, there were reports that some of his cabinet colleagues had complained to the prime minister about Shourie going to the media to seek support of his actions. Shourie knew a thing or two about investigative journalism. But only time well tell us if the Express was guided by a Deep Throat.

One wonders how the Express expos will be looked upon by the government, which recently okayed the entry of the foreign print media into the country. The foreign papers, with their enormous resources and no-holds-barred approach to exposing scandals, will be thoroughly at home in a country reeking with corruption. And if most of these exposs are aimed at the BJP-ruled government, it may well rue the decision to okay the entry of the foreign media.

Does the government want more gates to follow the Petrolgate one?

Gangadhar, a senior journalist who has worked with The Times of India and Reader's Digest, is a columnist for a large number of print and electronic publications. He can be contacted at gangadhar1@rediffmail.com