Kaun Banega Crorepati?*
Anil Bairwal of ADR released their “Updated Analysis of Lok Sabha MPs” – Criminal, Financial,Educational Background yesterday in which I found this nugget of information:
Total number of crorepati MPs in the present Lok Sabha – 300
I realise being a crorepati is no big deal in India today (e.g. read India home to fastest growing number of millionaires) but still…
Sadly, ADR’s report reveals in spite of all the talk about “change” and clean, value-based politics, the BJP has the maximum number of MPs having criminal cases against them – 43 (out of which 19 have serious criminal cases against them). If it is any “consolation”, Congress(I) is close on its heels with 41 MPs having criminal cases filed against them (followed by SP with 9 and Shiv Sena with 8).
For more, follow the link above to download the file (~275KB) or get it from my “Docs and Slides” widget on the Links page.
Pop-quiz question for the day:
Which former Cabinet Minister has made it to the List of top 10 MPs with criminal background?
.
* with apologies to the original KBC.
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What’s most unfortunate is not absolute numbers, but the fact that ~37% of BJP MPs have criminal charges which is far lower for congress. This is absolutely shameful, although I’ll have to pause for a min. and think how many of these MPs got charges out of political vendetta. Part of this increase in criminals in BJP, I think, is due to its deviation from RSS background, where honest, hard-working leaders got elected.
Indeed…would be useful to analyse the nature of these criminal cases (e.g. “murder” or “incitement to rioting and murder”? or something else? – not that one is better than the other)
“not that one is better than the other” – Sure, thats what the press would like to say.
But, if a Kashmiri Pandit gives a lecture in Anantanag or Srinagar, asking fellow pandits to fight the jihadis attacking their homes, that would amount to “incitement to rioting”. Or, when Hindus *retaliated* against the burning of kar sevaks, that would also amount to “incitement to rioting”. Is there a difference between that and wacking off a political opponent in Sibu Soren style?
@ Bhavananda: Thought-provoking comment…
I am not going into the legal aspects here (perhaps someone should comment on that) but I would not consider encouraging self-defence (as in the case of Kashmiri Pandit) in the same category as “incitement to rioting”.
Of course you and I both know that this view may not hold at all in a court.
As for Hindus “retaliating” against the burning of “kar-sevaks” – now, that would be incitement to rioting – legally or otherwise…
What do you think?
Without going into the legal question, the line between “inciting a riot against jihadis in kashmir” and “inciting riots against train burners in Gujarat” is fine, shady and very subjective. Its psychological too, for example, you used the word “retaliating” when describing Gujarat, but not in Kashmir because you consider one justified (self defense in kashmir) and the other unjustified (Gujarat).
And between these two situations of Gujarat and Kashmir, lies a lot of intermediate shades, like “retaliating” against the killing of Sw. Laxmanananda in Orissa to distribution of offensive literature in Karnataka or hacking-off of RSS workers in kerala.
To me they all justly belongs to one broad category with various shades and is very different from, say, killing a rival candidate from another political party or kidnapping for ransom or acting as a cover for terrorists (Abu Azmi or Antulay types).
PS – I’m not justifying riots in either scenarios. All I wanted to hint is that in both Kashmir and Gujarat Hindus have been attacked(for that matter, other parts of India). The reason why Gujratis are still sitting at home and Kashmiri HIndus are roaming homeless is because one “retaliated” and the other simple ran away. Now, you can decide whats the ideal thing to do when attacked – wait for the police to arrive or take “law into your own hands”.
Same logic can be applied to Bengalis driven out of their homes in Bangaladesh and got refuge in Bengal. Its another thing that those same Bengali refugees have allowed their oppressors (Bangladeshis) to trickle into India and are the strongest proponents of secularism in India!
@Shantanu,
Let me give you another example. There are 2 or 3 criminal cases against BJP MP Ananth Kumar Hegde. If you know his history, you might get an idea of how criminal cases are put due to political vendatta and minority politics. One of his so called ‘serious’ crimnal case was slapped on him because he raised Indian flag in a ground which hurt the feelings of muslims.
I had put a comment on this subject, here https://satyameva-jayate.org/2009/04/28/myneta-info/, which was posted few weeks back.
In India, being nationalist is a criminal offense, and only BJP MPs get caught for this offense, naturally. If you look at MPs and MLAs from TN, Kerala etc, they should be constantly getting a criminal case per month, but who will file case when police is under them.
So this criminal case statistics is not completely reliable. This is not to deny that there are no criminals in BJP either.
@Bhavananda,
You seem to use the word retaliation in a sense only you can understand. In any communal situation, this retaliation, as you call it, is visited upon people who have no connection whatsoever with the causes for the so-called retaliation, except possibly for belonging to the same religion or linguistic community. I only say this because I have seen the same language being used all over the world to justify ” protection of our culture and our people”. So you have friends all over the world. And quite a few of them do wear uniforms.
By the way, the violence in Kerala, the beginnings of which I am witness to, and which has claimed many of my friends and acquaintances on both sides, is not unilateral. And it has nothing to do with ideology. It is just territorial gang warfare. So you could be slightly more careful with the statement of facts.
“the violence in kerala…it has nothing to do with ideology. It is just territorial gang warfare.” – Lol, ya, similarly even ayodya ram mandir is also a territorial warfare, kashmir and amarnath are also a territorial warfare. lol
@Jayadevan: In my previous comment I’ve said that the line between what amounts to retaliation is **subjective**. This means that its subject to interpretation. This also means that I’m leaving room for others to interpret or understand it in their way,and I’ve merely presented my views. Which part of this is confusing to you? What makes you think I “use the word retaliation in a sense only (I) can understand”?
Secondly, you said that retaliation “is visited upon people who have no connection whatsoever with the causes for the so-called retaliation” because you have forgotten the old adage that unity is strength. You might expect, rather want, that *only the near family of Kashmiris shot to death” to retaliate while the rest of the fraternity (“people who have no connection”), Hindu & Muslim alike, to watch from the sidelines. This is because you WANT to make sure that Kashmiri Hindus are decimated. And, you have eloquently demonstrated this by your views on Kerala. Plus, I’m witnessing similar violence in Bengal, which has EVERYTHING to do with ideology and there’s no RSS there (yet!).
All I’ve said that there’s a difference between Gujarat & Kashmir. In one case “people with no connection” didn’t do anything and are roaming homeless where as in another case “people with no connection” fought back so that next time the train burners will think twice before lighting a bogey of pilgrims in Gujarat, but not in Kashmir.