Indian Polls: Democracy, Cash and Crime - By Dr. Abdul Ruff Colachal

India democracy cannot survive without practices of corruption, crime and transfer of money bags among various groups, individuals, mafia and criminals. During the democratic polls, Indians throw a lot money to get themselves or their favorites to the Parliament and State assemblies. Without pouring in huge resources it is difficult to win election, particularly to the Parliament to make laws for the people.. Murders are not uncommon during the election campaign.

Arrests and releases of the guilty and criminals are common during the poll season, depending n the strength of the persons concerned. As teh parliamentary poll is on in India, a filmmaker and Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) candidate Prakash Jha was April22 arrested and subsequently released after the Bihar police recovered Rs.10.25 lakh in cash following reports that he was distributing money to voters in his West Champaran constituency. Jha was arrested along with more than 50 people, mostly party workers and supporters, in the district headquarters of West Champaran Bettiah, about 200 km from here. West Champaran Superintendent of Police K.S. Anupam said the money was recovered after a police team raided the guesthouse. as usual, Jha denied that the money was meant for distribution among the voters to influence them a day ahead of the polls.

LJP chief Ram Vilas Paswan, a former central minister, in Patna criticized the state government led by his Janata Dal-United rival Nitish Kumar for conducting raids to harass his party nominee. 'I never expected this kind of vendetta; this is to target our candidate,' he said. Jha is pitted against Sadhu Yadav, a Congress nominee and brother-in-law of Railways Minister Lalu Prasad who quit the Rashtriya Janata Dal after he was denied a ticket. Sadhu Yadav's office was also raided and three people arrested.

Indian voters are disgusted with the politics of cash and muscle and annoyed that the public is fooled during the polls and they are forgotten and they lose every thing soon after the poll. In retaliation, people target leaders with footwears like shoes and chappals, less painful arms. On April 16, a shoe was flung at Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) prime ministerial candidate LK Advani during a rally in Madhya Pradesh. Earlier this month, Home Minister P. Chidambaram and Congress MP Naveen Jindal were targeted by people who expressed their anger by throwing footwear at them. In Mumbai, Bollywood Hindi actor Jeetendra became the latest target of a shoe-throwing incident here on Tuesday. Jeetendra was addressing a road show organized by the Congress, when someone from the crowd chucked a slipper at him. Jeetendra was campaigning for the former Minister Amrish Patel who is contesting from the Dhule parliamentary constituency. Party activists immediately pounced on the offender - identified as Dilip Ingle - and took him away. The motive behind his slipper chucking was not clear.

Political crime, especially poll crime is not new in India where various factors play. Shoe throwing is becoming popular now in the poll. However, the politicians are least bothered about such minor incidents as they are likely to boost the image of the party of the "affected leaders" and help gain more votes than those who are not shoe-attacked.  

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--By Dr. Abdul Ruff Colachal

  India

  22 April 2009