Films, Politics, and Criminals
Cartons of diamond-studded gold jewellery, 10,000 saris and 750 shoes… that is only a fraction of what Jayalalitha amassed during her tenure as chief minister in the 1990's. Call it public amnesia or public adulation, but inspite of being publicly goaded as one of India's most corrupt politicians, Jayalalitha comfortably returned to the helm in subsequent years. Hers is the classic example of one of Indian Democracy's peculiarities: the nexus between films, politicians and criminals.
With the Assembly polls looming, bizarre marriages are being solemnised. We have Mohd. Azharuddin joining the Congress; and Sanjay Dutt the BJP. One is a match fixer, banned for life from international cricket, and the other is, well, Sanju Baba. No one seems to have batted an eyelid. After all, some of the sitting MPs are serving life sentences for murder! Thanks to the Right to Information Act, politicians had to declare their assets and criminal records for the first time during the last Assembly elections. It hardly made a difference, as people continued to vote criminals to power. The 14th Lok Sabha had two MPs serving life sentence, eleven acquitted for taking bribes, and several dubious characters who caused enough disruptions to make the last session the shortest one in public memory: the House sat for only 46 days. One MP even faced 17 separate murder charges! It is no wonder that House Speaker Somnath Chatterjee had only derision for his fellowmen when he adjourned the Assembly. "You do not deserve one paisa of public money," he scolded them, "I hope all of you are defeated in the next election."
A major reason for the rise in politician-criminals is the waning of popularity of major national parties. As the elephants can no longer win elections on their own, convicted criminals belonging to smaller parties began to hold more sway. Criminal strongmen no longer need to throw their support behind a leading politician, because the number of votes they need is small enough that they can win elected office themselves. This is no way implies that the major parties are free from this scourge themselves, as the aforesaid cases will tell you.
Another weird phenomenon is how film actors make a bee-line for party seats once their days under the spotlight are over. People somehow seem to equate their on-screen persona with real life character and treat them like heroes! True, some of the first actor-politicians, like MGR and N.T. Ramarao, or the venerable Sunil Dutt, did yeoman service for the state. However, the same cannot be said of the current crop. It is high time that voters realized this is not a classroom election where the most good looking girl or guy invariably ends up winning the most votes. The fate of the world's largest democracy lies at stake.
In my opinion, all convicted and alleged criminals should be debarred from contesting elections. When a civil servant is removed from service as soon as a case is registered against him, why show such leniency to politicians alone? Some may counter that it is the voter's prerogative to choose the right candidate. If he chooses to elect a criminal then it is his choice. However, when the voter is faced with a pool consisting mainly of murderers and bribe-takers, he ends up picking the lesser among evils. The average Indian has fallen into a chalta hai attitude when it comes to this issue.
Indian democracy needs a lot of scrubbing up. As for us, the Indian public, instead of blaming the system, we ought to rise to the occasion and get things done. You can keep droning on about the ills of our democracy, but what is the point until you actually cast your own vote? The Congress might have bought the exclusive rights to this catch-phrase but I think I shall take the liberty: Jai Ho!
Cinthya Anand
