Proliferation Of Criminals In Politics: GOP Congress To Be Blamed

The criminal face of Indian political outfits is once again out in public. The open support of BJP UP lawmaker Surendra Singh to Ballia's shooter underscores how deep criminality has penetrated into the political system. The Ballia MLA has publicly defended the alleged shooter saying "the accused fired in self-defense" .

The law maker has no regert for the shooting incident.as if he was a witness. A 46-year-old man was shot dead in broad daylight in the presence of officials and policemen during an argument at a village in Uttar Pradesh's Ballia on Thursday. On the contrary. instead of sympathizing with victim's family, local lawmaker has come out openly to support the alleged shooter.

To defend the accused of an broad daylight murder, BJP lawmaker publicly admitted accused was his close aide and heads the BJP's ex-servicemen's unit in Ballia. He went to the extent of saying "This is a casualty that can happen anywhere".

It was only after strong public pressure that the accused Dhirendra Singh was arrested on Sunday after he filed a "surrender application" at a local court.

This is the ugliest face of Indian politics. The indiscreet silence of BJP top leaders over their lawmaker's supporting a criminal is another unfortunate part.

However, I am not surprised. Nothing of the sort can be expected from a system where criminals rule the roost

Look at facts: As many as 233 MPs out of 539 winners of 2019 Lok Sabha elections , have criminal cases against themselves as per their affidavits filed at the time of nominations. This is an increase of 44 per cent in the number of MPs with declared criminal cases since 2009. The 17th Lok Sabha has surpassed the previous two in electing MPs with criminal records. NDA ally Janta Dal United (JDU led by Nitish Kumar) has the highest percentage of MPs with criminal records.

Worst, all political parties court criminals and happily allot party tickets to them. Congress MP. Dean Kuriakose from Idukki constituency in Kerala has as many as 204 criminal cases against himself. These include cases related to committing culpable homicide, house trespass, robbery, criminal intimidation, etc.

Among the new Lok Sabha MPs, there are 10 who have declared convicted cases against themselves. There are 11 MPs with declared cases related to murder (Indian Penal Code Section-302) and 30 winners with declared cases of attempt to murder (IPC Section-307).There are 19 MPs who have declared cases related to crimes against women. Out of these, three have declared cases related to rape (IPC Section-376) and six have declared cases related to kidnappings.

The heavy infiltration of "Money and Muscle" in Indian Politics.has made the mockery of the democracy. But big question is: Why do voters elect candidates with criminal background?

Historian Srinath Raghavan points out that muscle-power is deeply entrenched in caste-relations in rural India. It was instrumental in mobilizing votes for the Congress party in the first two decades after independence. Later, there was a transformation of criminals from being the hired guns of politicians to becoming full-time politicians themselves. This is the one of the reasons, Congress party did not do anything for the decriminalization of the politics. So, the Grand Old Party Congress is to be blamed for this.

Political parties act as a platform, purveying criminal candidates to the voters. This phenomenon is best called as a ‘platform market’, where strong ‘network effects’ are at play and the two sides – demand and supply – mutually reinforce each other.

Political fragmentation, throat-cut competition and continued decline of GOP Congress – converged in the late 1980s to break open the political system in an unprecedented manner”, says Milan Vaishnav, This phenomenon incentivised criminals to make their foray into electoral politics. The uncertainty stemming from greater electoral competition, widened the entry of criminals into other political parties . It was an ‘vertical integration’ to sustain the political economy.

This is the harsh reality. Indian political economy flourished by leaps and bounds after the entry of criminals. The ever increasing high cost electioneering played its own role in the criminalization of the politics. this trend is going to strength, and there is no hope of its decline. That's why Ballia like case keeps on proliferating. Just wait for the worst.

(Chander Sharma)