A refusal to reform

Let’s also look at the various laws that protect the politician, as for instance the provision in Section 8 of the Representation of Peoples’ Act, which makes for an automatic suspension of conviction and sentence of a MP/MLA for commission of a crime, until the decision of appeal or revision has been arrived at. The privilege contained in Article 105 or 194 of the Constitution, which enabled a prime minister to bribe certain MPs to stay in power and get away with it as a ‘privileged act’, continues to be in force.

There has been a pressing demand of political parties for state funding of elections, amounting to several lakhs of rupees per candidate. Obviously, this is an expense that the electorate, or at least the tax payer, will have to shell out. Yet, where is the principle of accountability if, at the same time, politicians refuse to inform the electorate about themselves.

They will not bring forth a law which will govern the formation of healthy political practices and parties — as, for instance, by ensuring that a certain percentage of party membership be earmarked for people of learning or specialists in various fields of governance to function as ministers when occasion arises. By and large, a high percentage of people in politics has remained illiterate despite over 50 years of independence.

Indeed the view of the all party meet only underlines the devotion of the politician to illiteracy and a refusal to be transparent. At the same time, armies equipped with lethal weapons are being raised for political purposes. Take, for instance, the case of MLA Badshah Singh of a powerful political party, who was shown a few days ago training bands of young men in the use of firearms in order to press for the creation of a separate Bundelkhand state by carving out areas from UP and Madhya Pradesh!

These and many other developments testify to the fact that it is the bad who have come to prevail over the good, blighting India’s future in the process. If political parties do not, themselves, stem the rot, the people will have to rise to force a change for the better. That may not be too pleasant a prospect!