India is
perpetually on election mode and the country continues to witness a disturbing alliance
between crime and politics. How did this phenomena creep into the Indian electoral
process? What transpired over the years in Indian politics, that crime and
politics became willing bed partners? Why would criminals contest elections
leaving their murky business aside? Why
do political parties accept such tainted individuals and most baffling of all –
why would honest people vote for such individuals when they are fully aware of
their criminal antecedents?
These are questions addressed by the author, Milan Viashnav, in this painstakingly well researched book.
These are questions addressed by the author, Milan Viashnav, in this painstakingly well researched book.
Milan is Senior
Associate at the Carnegie Foundation in Washington DC and has been a Fellow at
the Centre for Global Development Studies. He has taught at Columbia, George
Washington and Georgetown Universities. This book is an extension of his
Research Thesis and includes almost nothing which is not supported by empirical
evidence, statistical analysis and credible references, the hallmark of an
erudite scholar-academic.
As the next
round of elections is around the corner, the informed public in India will do
well to read this book and improve their insight into this expanding unholy
nexus across political formations between politics and crime. According to data
compiled by the Association of Democratic Reforms (ADR), 24% of Members of
Parliament elected in 20014 faced criminal charges, this figure grew to 30 % in
2009 and climbed to 34 % in 2014.
The
book highlights a major factor supporting this rising phenomena, namely that
criminals self finance their political campaign. Political parties are
invariably short of finances and such offers topped with additional
contributions helps plug the fiscal gap albeit at the cost of overlooking their
criminal antecedents.
Over
time the criminal politician’s capability to resolve local issues and get
things done projects them in a modern Robin Hood image. Pappu Yadav, Mohammad
Shahbuddin, Arun Gawli, Madhu Koda, Raja Bhaiya, Phoolan Devi are names
synonymous with this rising phenomena. A quintile analysis of the poorest to
richest candidates in past election reveals that the richest have substantially
higher chances of election victory but only if combined with a tag of high criminality.
Viewed from the context of Indian political history a jail term may not have
extreme negative connotations but it would be excessive to suggest that the
common voter cannot differentiate between the reasons for incarceration for
Jawaharlal Nehru and Pappu Yadav.
Indian
democracy, as it turns out, comprises of individuals steeped in the world of
crime.....not white-collar crimes like corruption and bribery, but serious
offenses like murder, kidnapping, arson etc.
Brazil, Jamaica, Nigeria, Pakistan and Philippines suffer similar
challenges and moot the questions - Is this the price citizens must pay for
democracy? and how did the US and other democratic nations cope with this
phenomena?
This book is not
about illiterate and ignorant voters being misled into voting for criminal
candidates or the information gap between fact and reality. The book presents
evidence supporting a strong correlation between constituencies of criminal
candidates and localities with caste identity issues. A notable exception being
West Bengal where party-identification overrides caste and religious
identity.
The author
retains the academic gravitas associated with research and incorporates desk
work with field study examples and interviews. The book discusses the rot which
set into the grand old party from its early inception, as the power base
shifted from visionaries and statesmen to opportunistic rent seekers. Complex
aspects of political science, sociology, economics and history have been used
with multiple references, notes and appendix. The lay reader may find this a
bit intimidating but it is quite essential for supporting view points,
defending stated positions and stand the scrutiny of critics.
What remains
unexplored is the effect criminality in politics will have on people’s
attitudes, their trust and belief in the rule of law, their basic perceptions
of politics may get adversely influenced and will impact their decisions for joining
politics. In a country with a close to zero transparency in political
contributions the road ahead looks quite murky and only political reforms can
determine the direction for democracy and public institutions. India can
provide one billion people with unique biometric identification numbers but
struggles to enforce the rule of law and basic facilities for the common man,
this duality, according to Lloyd and Sussan Rudolh is the paradox of the
“Weak-Strong State”.
In conclusion
the author quotes Francis Fukuyama’s three essentials for a healthy democracy -
effective State apparatus - adherence to the Rule of Law and - democratic
Accountability. The informed citizenry is advised to read such a well
researched book and draw their own lessons for further debate on the subject
under review. It is also high time that a nation with the motto “Satyameva Jayate: Truth alone triumphs” acts decisively to
prevent the entry of criminals into the country’s political main stream.
