Politics of crime

From the criminalisation of the police force, the nation must now shift focus to what is the mother of all problems in Indian polity: the criminalisation of politics. The conviction of Siwan MP Mohammed Shahabuddin of the Rashtriya Janata Dal in an eight year old abduction and murder case may well stand out as the worst example but is also symptomatic of the situation we now find ourselves in.

The Siwan MP is currently in Siwan jail having been arrested in Delhi for possession of arms at his home in Siwan. In March he was convicted for attacking a Communist Part of India Marxist-Leninist office in 1998. He has some 40 other criminal cases against him. Yet, he has been elected to the Lok Sabha since 1996 and has the strong support of RJD leader and Union Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav.

According to a report prepared by an NGO, the National Social Watch Coalition, 16.28 per cent of the candidates who stood for election to the current Parliament have criminal antecedents. In the age group of 36 to 45 years, 30 per cent of Members of Parliament have criminal cases pending against them. These figures are educative but are hardly edifying. They show that regardless of all efforts by the Election Commission, the courts and citizens’ groups, as long as politicians and political parties support criminals, we cannot clean our houses of legislature.

Some politicians have argued that many of these cases are false, filed by their rivals and that no one can be held guilty unless proved so. The argument is specious and does not answer questions about cases that involve abduction, murder, rape and assault. Shahabuddin’s may seem like the worst case but it is not the only one. Keeping the bastion of Indian jurisprudence in mind — you are innocent until proven guilty — politicians with criminal cases pending against them could be stopped from contesting elections until they are cleared of all charges.

The writers of our Constitution, it appears, did not account for this aspect of political life, so there are no provisions to bar people with criminal cases pending against them from contesting elections.

Unfortunately for the country, this is a case of physician, heal thyself. Political parties have to clean up their acts, literally. And the Shahabuddins have to stay where they apparently belong — in jails. But given that such politicians get the full backing of their leaders, will any party take the first step and deny tickets to those with criminal antecedents. The country is waiting.