Criminalization of Politics

Ones in power feel the need to have nexus with anti social elements,history sheeters,scandal mongers,hoodlums,miscreants and swindlers. The quality of political leadership is getting murkier and deteriorating as each day passes by and the civil society and the intelligentsia can hardly do anything to nip this catastrophe in its bud.The kind of leadership that inspired India's freedom struggle the legacy of these very crusaders of independence and proponents of freedom unfortunately dont have worthy successors who can carry their legacy in thought and deed but there are elements in the political arena who pay lipservice to these stalwarts or glorify them in their speeches but dont follow the ideals they have laid down.

Its a matter of shame and disgrace to the indian polity that there are scoundrels who have the brazeness and temerity to contest elections despite being incarcerated, political parties who have an all india presence have doled out tickets to candidates who are behind bars awaiting trial to contest elections such an act on the part of such parties who have manifestos talking about 'party with a difference' and party determined to rule of law and electoral reforms smacks of double standards.The middle class urban educated elite have become arm chair and drawing room critics, some among them despite discussing politics with evangelistic fervour on dinner table are indifferent when it comes to casting their vote.We as a nation who profess to be a welfare state despite our achievements on the economic front,in the IT sector,foreign reserves have not succeeded in tackling law and order problems as there is one school of thought which advocates poverty and necessity breeds crime and outlawness besides greed and avarice. The the need of the hour is right thinking members of political parties must cut across party lines and become nonpartisan to bar criminal elements from procuring sacred chairs of our parliament and thriving on the gullibility of our misled electorate.

At the end of the day, credibility of the candidate contesting election not his winnability should be the benchmark and yardstick for the party which fields him as a candidate.