No longer an aberration

Criminals today see business opportunities in politics and hence they are willing to invest large amount of money in various political parties as they know the amount will be recovered many times over. Moreover, it will lend them respectability in the official circles as well as add to the aura that has been created by their criminal deeds. The truth is that this trend is growing and law abiding citizens are being pushed more for space. Does this mean that we are now condemned to be ruled only by the criminals?

by REPORTER@DAYAFTERINDIA.COM

The list is long and growing. Shibu Soren, Mohammad Shahabuddin, Pappu Yadav, Surajbhan Singh, Prabhunath Singh, Anana Mohan Singh and his wife Lovely Anand, Atiq Mohammad, D.P. Yadav and Navjot Singh Sidhu are all men of honour and either sitting or former members of the Indian Parliament. However all of them stand accused and a few of them convicted of heinous crimes like murder, extortion, rape and culpable homicide.

While on the end of the spectrum is Navjot Singh Sidhu, the former test cricketer who now breathes humor and fire in the BJP rallies and Shibu Soren who began his public life as a crusader who had the responsibility of not only salvaging the pride of his tribal people but safeguard their economic interests. The former might represent as to what can go wrong to a person who is intrepid and allows his passion to rule his better judgment, the latter represents all that can go wrong to a person who allows himself to be swayed by the power of money and politics. Both of them have been convicted by the courts and both await a final call on their fate. Meanwhile, the baffling judicial process of the country allows a voluble and expressive man like Sidhu to continue representing his constituency in the parliament even when a High Court of the country has found him guilty and therefore sentenced.

Both these cases might be said to be extreme examples of what can go wrong with individuals with certain flaws in their character. People can probably draw appropriate lessons from their lives and warn others of the pitfalls just as students of literature are duly warned of the ‘vaulting ambition’ of a Macbeth or blind jealousy of an Othello. But there is another class of politicians who have committed crimes not in a fit of rage or because they are possessed by some flaw in the character that leads to their downfall but because they have developed crime into a craft that needs the support of political system. In fact they are not even used to any sort of downfall as much of the time the more serious the complicity in the crime committed the greater is the aura and awe of the politician. That makes him much more invincible at the time of the voting and not even the voting machines and election commission has been able to weed them out of the system. The fear factor of these politicians is used by their political parties in other constituencies as well with the result that they expand their base and sphere of influence.

Usually these politicians begin their careers quite early. The smart ones learn in those early days that politics and crime feed upon each other. Political influence grows in proportion to the fear that one inspires and that can happen only with a track record, of course without convictions, of crime. For ruling out the possibility of conviction it is imperative that the system lends support. This is how the nexus is born. Rest of the progress depends upon the ambition of the person his ability to think big and create a bigger sphere rather than remain contented with the same set of cronies with whom started his journey during the teen age years.

Thus the don politicians in the coalfields of Dhanbad area where it was important that political muscle was adequately supported by physical power or else there was no possibility of being feared and respected by people. Democracy entails free expression of opinion but if it was seriously allowed to be used then there is no knowing when the politician would be challenged by some one who is a non entity today but has truth and facts on his side. Hence, only a Jekyll and Hyde can be a successful in running the business and representing the people.

Part of the explanation, according to many observers, is that criminals now see political office as a business opportunity. Whether it is the contract for the hauling and transportation of coal or bidding for the liquor vends or some other lucrative contract, the criminal politician has to have his fingers in those pies. This gives him strength as well as financial clout. Therefore observers and experts on the subject like the NGO India Watch are convinced that some political parties are now even demanding large upfront payments from their candidates, knowing that those elected can later more than recoup their “investment” by hawking favours, siphoning off funds for development or selling in the market foodstuffs destined for a midday meal scheme for school-age children.

The question before an honest citizen is if any thing can be done about it and have other democracies too faced similar kind of situation and if yes how did they deal with it? Godfathers, as Mario Puzo has made all of us aware, might have their origins in Italy but for a long time they have had a vicious hold on the economy and system of the United States of America; Italy, in fact, continues to grapple with the menace of Godfathers; but while the USA realized quite early that the system that they so painstakingly developed was in danger of being swamped by the trash that they thought they had left behind in Europe rose to snub out this threat. Much maligned Italy too makes concerted efforts to wipe away the stigma. England, the mother of all parliaments has mercifully remained free of this disease.

The problem in India is that the people take the idiom of the wheels of justice moving slowly but steadily as a truth that cannot be altered. The law is cumbersome and the system ineffective and lax. Indian law bans people from public office only if they have been convicted of an offence by the country’s hopelessly overloaded courts. As this can take years, mobsters and murderers can brazenly strut the corridors of national and state parliaments, and even sit in the cabinet.

As a result a quarter of MPs in Delhi have criminal backgrounds, according to a Public Affairs Centre in Bangalore, the vast majority of them come from the four contiguous northern states of UP, Bihar, Jharkhand and Madhya Pradesh. We like to treat its VIPs well. Traffic is stopped for them, armed escorts are provided, queues are swept aside. Police handle politicians and celebrities with obsequious respect and even airport officials quaver at the sight of a dignitary flanked by bodyguards.

This culture of extreme deference seems to have been exploited in the latest political corruption scandal to dismay a nation already weary of the antics of its politicians. Babubhai Katara, a Member of Parliament, belonging to the supposedly ‘party with a difference’ characteristic, the BJP, is in custody as the police investigate his alleged role in a people-smuggling operation, which apparently relied on the special privileges meted out to politicians at airport check-in.

Armed with the diplomatic passport granted to all politicians, Katara sent his staff ahead to ease him through immigration last week, hoping to board a flight to Canada with two companions. Because of his status, he was subjected to “fleeting scrutiny”. As police inquiries began, several other politicians came under suspicion of abusing their position in the same way.

Social Watch India, a political watchdog, has reported that 125 of the 538 members of Parliament have criminal cases pending against them though about half of these cases relate to relatively minor allegations, the other half concern serious charges that could lead to jail terms of five years or more. The growing number of corrupt politicians represents “a cancerous growth in the Indian body politic, threatening the rule of law and the very basis of Indian democracy,” the report states. “This has led to a very undesirable and embarrassing situation of outlaws becoming lawmakers and moving around under police protection.”

Even more disconcerting is the fact that young lawmakers are more prone to breaking laws. 30.4 per cent of MPs between 36 and 45 years, who have been elected to the 14 th Lok Sabha are facing criminal cases in different parts of the country. And 18.3 per cent of them are facing grave charges, a report by Social Watch India says. The fact that the elders, aged between 55 and 65 years, have lesser criminal cases against them-19.3 per cent indicates that the gravity of the situation has been of recent origin.

Today we have a parliament that houses some accused of murder, rape and extortion, a few convicted of homicides, murders and conspiracies but there are also many like Rahul Gandhi, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Manvendra Singh and many more. There is no reason to believe that at some point of time they will not have political will and capacity to send the rogue element where they ought to be. The people suffer this element because of the inherent weakness of the system; they will laud all those who demonstrate their willingness to lead towards a cleaner and healthier life.