Bite the bullet

All political parties shall undertake all such steps as will attain the objective of ridding our polity of criminalisation or its influence,8221; resolved the Lok Sabha during its special session to mark the golden jubilee of India8217;s independence in August 1997. Just some more empty words from our elected representatives, cynics would agree, if the Rajan Tewari arrest in the Capital last week is any indication of their sincerity. The facts are brutally bloodcurdling. Tewari, an accomplice of the dreaded gangster Sri Prakash Shukla who was gunned down a few months ago, was arrested from the residence of a sitting MP and is believed to be involved in at least 11 murder cases. Tewari has reportedly confessed to killing an Uttar Pradesh police inspector at the behest of two MPs and an MLA belonging to different parties. Though the police are still probing Tewari8217;s exact political linkages, the issue goes far beyond the specifics of this case.

In fact, it would be missing the wood for the trees if the case isallowed to be reduced to petty political pointscoring for, it is patently clear that behind all the virtuous words and patriotic rhetoric, the criminal-politician nexus not only endures, but grows stronger with the passage of time. And the fallout is visible in almost every ill that besets the country: rigged elections, flourishing extortion rackets, banking frauds, a demoralised and sometimes collaborative administration, private militias and inhuman massacres and a plundered exchequer. Of course, quot;crime and politicsquot; is a much bandied phrase among the powers that be; but sadly this concern merely translates into high-powered committees and high-decibel parliamentary debates. The N.N. Vohra committee report on the dreaded nexus may have been tabled in Parliament a few years ago amidst much brouhaha and controversy, but there was virtually no follow-up action on the cases detailed therein, let alone on rectifying institutional malpractices.Besides, while the Election Commission from time to time publicisesstatistics on the increasing percentage of MPs and MLAs with criminal records, no subsequent effort is made to prevent their entry into legislature chambers.

Indeed, in this era of political instability and the consequent politics of compulsion, it is difficult to envision the system embarking on a concerted self-correction drive. Yet, the need for such an onslaught cannot be over-emphasised, because this enduring nexus poses possibly the greatest challenge to internal security. A far-reaching first step, which would also strike at the very root of corruption as such, would be state funding of elections with the obvious corollary being a vigorous check on election-related violence and malpractices. This, in turn, would call for the insulation of the police forces and the administration at large from political interference and a more responsive and less time-consuming criminal justice system. But, as always, one question remains: will our leaders finally bite the bullet and convert the vicious cycle into avirtuous circle?