There are exceptions to it but they are now an endangered,
threatened, compromised and sacrificed lot. And here, we are not talking about
exceptions.
The observation made in the title of this write-up may or may not
sound like a generalized statement as politicians still get elected in India’s
democratic system (with a pseudo-democratic functionality), but, it, indeed, is
a generic statement in the prevailing circumstances.
Say anyone that the fellow is a politician and there are 100 per
cent chances that you will get a negative comment about the person. Politics
and politicians in India have become synonymous with many vices of a free,
socialist and civilized society. Some stand out justifying this negative stereotyping
of Indian politicians.
Foremost among them is corruption.
There is no need to give supporting facts when it is said that almost of the
politicians of the day are corrupt. When we can witness the fall of someone
like Manmohan Singh from grace, known for his honesty and integrity, in just
few years, washing away decades of perseverance to build a reputation that he
was known for in 2004, or even in 2009, we have valid reasons to make such
statements.
Isn’t it universally known in India that whosoever gets elected
through any electoral process, even at the Panchayat level (the lowest level of
democratically elected body in India), sees astonishing growth in his financial
fortunes in a period of few years only?
It is about shameless nepotism
and illicit camaraderie that the likes of Digvijay Singhs so emphatically
promote.
From the political top to the elementary bottom, from the Nehru-Gandhi
family to the Panchayat heads, everyone is deeply into promoting the family
cause turning politics into a family business.
It is hard to find examples anywhere else (in countries that claim
to be the progressive democracies) where an elected chief minister installs his
illiterate wife as chief minister of a state with around 10 crore population
after he is jailed under corruption charges.
Where else can we find examples where a senior leader of the
ruling political party says vehemently that politicians should follow a ‘code
of conduct’ sort of practice and should not target the relatives of each-other
after a close relative of one of the country’s most powerful political families
is alleged for financial wrongdoings.
It is about the increasing criminalization
of Indian politics. From the Parliament to the Panchayats, there are plenty of
candidates with serious criminal cases against them pending in courts.
Criminals now know very well that politics is the bed they need to share in
order to derail investigations against them as well as to legitimize what they
had been doing before taking the political incarnation.
Not going too deep into history, let me quote directly some facts
from a BBC article (The Indian politicians facing criminal charges – Andrew North,
BBC, February 15, 2013) sourcing details from the assessment made by Association
for Democratic Reforms (ADR), a research-based agency working to promote transparency
in politics, that would be enough to tell what the criminalization history of
Indian politics has been and where it is headed:
·
“1,448 of India's 4,835 MPs and state
legislators have declared criminal cases
·
641 of these 1,448 are facing serious charges
like murder, rape, kidnapping
·
44 of 206 Congress party MPs have declared
criminal charges
·
6 legislators in state assemblies are facing
rape charges
·
29 of 58 ministers in Uttar Pradesh state have
criminal records”
The cocktail of these unethical practices
make for yet another trait of Indian politics highly caustic for its positive image
– insensitivity towards the problems
of the voters who elect them. Politicians behave as if they are a super-class,
above and in a separate league from the people who elect them in every
election. Insensitivity of Indian politicians is again a universal fact in India. A simple google search with ‘insensitive
Indian politicians’ as the search phrase would fetch loads of pages.
©/IPR: Santosh Chaubey - http://severallyalone.blogspot.com/
Its latest burning example is the
government’s careless and lackadaisical attitude in relief and rescue
operations in the aftermath of the disastrous Uttarakhand flash floods killing
thousands according to the eyewitness accounts of the survivors. Victims are
protesting against the inadequate and biased approach of the government
alleging erratic delivery of relief efforts.
People have died. People are dying and
politicians are making empty statements. They are going on senseless aerial surveys
in choppers from thousands of feet above. They cannot see what is up on the ground
from such a height but in doing so, they do hamper the relief efforts by their security
protocols.
Insensitive to the core!
That is why they are so negatively
stereotyped (may read ‘hated’) in India.
