India's Rogues' Gallery of Politicians

By M H Ahssan

"In a democracy, people get the government they deserve." American politician Adlai Stevenson's famous words may well have been penned for India - a country where a remarkable rogues' gallery of bandits, racketeers, murderers and assorted criminals crowd the corridors of power. The fact was highlighted yet again during recent assembly elections, when public records filed with the Election Commission revealed some disquieting facts about India's power aspirants.

The records showed that every third MLA (member of the legislative assembly) in the capital, Delhi, has criminal charges pending against them, that every sixth legislator in the central state of Madhya Pradesh has a criminal record, while in the western desert state of Rajasthan it is every ninth.

Undoubtedly next year, with the national election expected in April or May, more horror stories of the criminal-politician nexus will surface, as the link has become inextricable from India's democratic polity. Take a look at past examples. India's most dreaded "Bandit Queen", Phoolan Devi, became a member of parliament in 1996 after a career roaming central India's desolate valleys, allegedly stealing from and killing wealthy upper-caste landowners who according to her "exploited" the poor.

Devi's biggest crime - killing the underdogs' oppressors - gave her tremendous popularity in that region, and she used that groundswell of support to win a ticket to the Indian parliament. There she remained until she was murdered in 2001, by one of the upper-caste Hindus she had fought against.

Why only Devi? There are many examples of rogues masquerading as politicians in India. A decade ago, parliamentarian Shibu Soren was alleged to have sent henchmen to spirit a former aide to a forest, where he was killed and buried, to silence a corruption allegation against his accomplice. But this minor matter didn't get in the way of Soren becoming India's coal minister - during his trial - though he was later forced to resign after his conviction.

According to a 1997 World Bank report, "corruption" is defined as abuse of public power for private gain. In India, politicians think nothing of abusing this power as they think it comes with the territory. Sadhu Yadav, a member of the 14th Lok Sabha (India's lower house of parliament), is another case in point. His sister is a former Bihar chief minister and wife of current Railway Minister Laloo Yadav - Rabri Devi. Yadav has a long list of criminal cases - and arrest warrants - pending against him including those of bribery, forgery, intimidation, assault, rape, cheating and embezzlement. Yadav was forced to surrender to the police after a Supreme Court order in December 2006.

Perhaps one of the most high-profile cases of corruption in politics has been that of former prime minister Narasimha Rao, who was sentenced to three years in prison in 2000 for bribing lawmakers to back him on the crucial confidence vote that saved his government in July 1993. Rao, who held office from 1991 to 1996, became the first Indian prime minister to be found guilty in a criminal case. Buta Singh, who served as his home minister, received the same sentence.

Another high-profile case was that of Mohammad Shahabuddin, a fourth-term member of the Lok Sabha, who was given a life sentence for kidnapping with intent to murder, and faced trial in more than 30 criminal cases including eight of murder, 20 of attempted murder, as well as kidnapping, extortion and arms dealing.

Why does India set the bar so low for its politicians? Perhaps the fault lies with its existing anti-corruption laws. Although the Prevention Of Corruption Act, 1988, brings the offence under the courts' jurisdiction, most politicians are able to get away scot-free due to its weak enforcement. Or the case drags for so many years in court that it fades from public memory.

This has led to a criminalization of politics which has been recognized as the most dangerous facet of corruption in India. This was acknowledged by NN Vohra, the former Union home secretary, in a 1995 report which observed, "A network of mafias is virtually running a parallel government in India, pushing the state apparatus into irrelevance." The report recognized that a cancerous growth of criminal gangs, drug mafias, smuggling gangs and economic lobbies in the country had developed an intensive network of contacts with bureaucrats and politicians.

America, where a huge amount of accountability is demanded from public figures, is a study in contrast. Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich was recently arrested and forced out of office when he was charged with conspiracy and bribery for attempting to sell a Senate seat vacated by president-elect Barack Obama. Blagojevich's predecessor - George Ryan - was also convicted of corruption while two other governors - Dan Walker and Ottto Kerner - have served prison terms for bribery and fraud.

While these cases highlight the omnipresence of corruption in global politics, they also show that an efficacious criminal justice system can succeed in bringing corrupt public officials to book. By contrast, selling parliamentary seats for money, rigging elections, bribing officials, doing underhand deals with cash-lush businessmen, and unashamedly securing seats for relatives are par for the course in India.

According to Pratik Pratibimb, a professor of political history at Jawaharlal Nehru University, "Indian politics stands at a crossroads today with regional and national parties having to search for new frameworks of partnership in and outside coalitions." Due to this, Indian politics has entered a period of unforeseen and multidimensional crises. "The global integration of the Indian economy through structural changes has also unleashed various forces due to which the government set-up has come under unforeseen pressures," said the professor.

Many people feel that these pressures have dramatically altered the Indian political fabric. Ergo, in this inchoate, new brand of politics, anything goes. What matters most to a political party is the candidate's winnability. Everything else seems negotiable. In fact because criminals keep winning elections all the time, the government has been dragging its feet on long-standing demands for a ban on criminal politicians. It was this prevarication which forced the Election Commission to bring in alternative "extra-legal devices" to stop criminals during this election.

Indian law too, only bars a person from running for office once they are indicted by a court, which often happens years, even decades, after an arrest. It's even harder to dislodge someone actually holding office. In India's most populous state, Uttar Pradesh, 92 members of the current 403-member state assembly have police charges lodged against them. One politician, Ramakant Yadav, even won election from jail, while his brother, Umakant Yadav, a member of parliament, was charged with murder.

While the majority of politicians are simply corrupt, part of an endemic culture of graft, many of those charged with bigger crimes have won tickets after defying the law under the garb of "championing" the causes of smaller ethnic minorities and low-caste Hindus in a country divided along caste, religion and wealth lines.

"We'd like criminals to be debarred, but for that to happen would require an act that the government refuses to pass. Every political party has a lot of criminal candidates and every political party has a lot of winning criminal candidates, so they don't want to pass the law," said a party functionary who didn't want to be named.

According to a report prepared by an non-governmental organization, the National Social Watch Coalition, 16.28% of the candidates who stood for election to the last parliament have criminal antecedents. In the age group of 36 to 45 years, 30% of members of parliament have criminal cases pending against them.

When corrupt politicians are confronted with evidence of their wrong doing, their responses are stock. They say the cases are "false", filed by rivals with a vendetta. This specious argument of course does not answer questions about cases that involve abduction, murder, rape and assault.

However, in the wake of the Mumbai blasts, a tidal wave of angst has risen against corrupt politicians. Thousands of angry citizens spilled onto the streets with placards like "We'd rather have a dog visit our homes than a politician" and "India doesn't need politicians. Go home, minister!"

Perhaps some good will come out of this. Perhaps this newfound low threshold of tolerance for the corrupt Indian politician will force political parties to clean up their augean stables. Till then, however, the sinister minister rules.