Mera Bharat Badnaam
Going further down the rabbit-hole, India has touched a new low in its notion of a democracy. It was always a dying democracy but another peel has come off. The inner crust is in plain view and it is rotten. We should have the courage, if not the decency, to call it what it is - a kleptocracy.
The UPA government saved its 'numbers' this week to retain a majority with bribes of millions of dollars per member of parliament. This after the Left parties withdrew support in opposition to the Indo-US nuclear deal.
The Indian parliamentary system requires a ruling party to have an absolute majority. Since 1990 no single party has ever had one. So a group of various parties get together to form a coalition government. This brings in more corruption to an already corrupt country. Elected representatives of the people are picayune prostitutes, bought dearly to collect 'numbers'. Favors are promised, crimes are forgiven, criminals in jail are released, contracts and ministries are given out, alliances are forged with political enemies, statues are commemorated to remember non-heroes as heroes, and of course money is exchanged. This has been the state of affairs for 18 years since coalition politics became the only kind of government possible in India. While everybody here knows this, typical human apathy makes most blind to it. Yet, in the past, this was mostly done under the table, covered under a very thin veil of shame. This time though the shame of was gone. Corruption has erupted like a malignant tumor in the 24/7 media coverage and is now shamelessly staring us in our hebetudinous faces. And we have no clue how to react. Perhaps go shopping?
What we permit, we promote. Here's a list of some of the convicted hard criminals who are elected representatives in this beacon of democracy. They get to decide whether we get to keep a government.
Pappu Yadav alias Rajesh Ranjan RJD, Purnea, Bihar
SENTENCED in Feb 2008 for life for murder of former CPM MLA Ajit Sarkar in 1998.
Suraj Bhan LJSP, Balia, Bihar
SENTENCED To life last month for murder of Rami Singh, a Madurapur farmer in 1992.
Ateeq Ahmed Phulphur, Uttar Pradesh
Charged in: 21 criminal cases, including some involving murder. One such was the murder of Bhartiya Samajwadi Party MLA Raju Pal in 2005.
Afzal Ansari Samajwadi Party, Ghazipur, UP
Brother of Uttar Pradesh don Mukhtar Ansari. In jail facing charges in murder of Bhartiya Samajwadi Party MLA Krishanand Rai in 2005.
Umakant Yadav BSP, Machhlishahr, Uttar Pradesh
Jailed for allegedly razing shops and houses while trying to forcibly occupy land in Azamgarh in Uttar Pradesh in 2007.
Mohammad Shahbuddin RJD, Siwan, Bihar
Convicted in 3 cases. March and August 2007: life term for kidnapping leading to murder of a trader in 1999, 10 yrs for attack on Siwan SP in 1996 and 2 yrs for attack on CPI(ML) office in 1998.
And these are just some of them. Here's some more data on Criminals in the Indian Parliament.
I wonder if a S.O.S that the Indian Government has declared war on its people is going to be of any help. After all, this entire game is being propelled forward to open up U.S nuclear fuel markets to India. Crony Capitalism and its tamed bitch: Democracy are marching on.
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Actually, India is a kakistocracy. See this post.
The worst part of it all is that, there were 5 ministers who were released from jail and they were the most sought after voters, on the D-DAY of voting.It's like a pre-requisite now that any person pursuing the dream of being a politician, must have a minimum of "4-5" criminal cases cases agaist him/her.