“Whether a man is a criminal or a public servant is purely a matter of perspective.”
? Tom Robbins
Politics is defined as ‘the activities associated with the governance of a country or area, especially the debate between parties having power.’ Observing the past events happening in the nation, the word ‘activities’ here can be inferred as an uncommonly vague form which includes every action regardless of its legality or lawfulness to govern a particular area.
Kanpur’s dreaded ganglord Vikas Dubey otherwise known as Vikas Pandit, who on the night of July 2, brutally massacred eight officers of a 20 member Uttar Pradesh police posse who had gone to the village to arrest him, is one of the many examples who has been able to malevolently alter the real meaning of politics. He has materialized himself as a serious law and order predicament in the city of Kanpur. There were 71 cases registered against him, including 7 of murder and 8 of attempt to murder. He was arrested on many occasions but shockingly was never convicted for any of the case because of his “cordial” relations across the political spectrum which offered him great protection from the law. In 2001, he assassinated Santosh Shukla, then a minister of state in the Rajnath Singh government, inside the Shivli police station which shook the entire state. Despite orders from the CM himself, the police could not arrest Dubey. Four months later he surrendered in court and was accompanied by some ministers also, he was later sent to jail but such was his clout and nefarious reputation that all the 16 eyewitnesses including the investigation officer, turned hostile in court and was acquitted by the court later. There are many such episodes in which delinquent people like Vikas Dubey, Shree Prakash Shukla, Mokhtar Ansari, Atiq Ahmad, Brij Bhushan Saran Singh, Rama Kant Yadav, Uma Kant Yadav and Raghuraj Pratap Singh (a never ending list) were able to sidestep the law under the aegis by different political associations.
CRIMINALISATION OF POLITICS:
The state of Uttar Pradesh is considered to be a hub for politicians with criminal antecedents. According to Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) in the 17th Vidhan Shabha election, 143 out of 403 legislatures were found to have an “impressive” criminal antecedents. The use of political clout to legitimise criminality is not new. During the dark days of the Emergency, unconstitutional decisions were taken by the ruling party and there are many instances in India’s political history when leaders accused of serious crimes have gotten away scot-free. Even Some UP legislators like Mukhtar Ansari, Kuldeep Sengar and Brijesh Singh are currently serving their term in jail. The criminalisation of politics began in late 1970s and 1980s when the Gorakhpur University was established. A scramble was witnessed between two castes; Brahmin and Thakur for the domination over the university to become the student leader. Soon, this battle for domination took a bloody turn and murders began in quick succession. Two rival ganglords came to the fore; Hari Shankar Tiwari and Virendra Pratap Shahi. The newspapers referred Tiwari as an ‘eminent leader’ and Shahi was given the title of ‘Sher-e-Purvanchal’ (The lion of Purvanchal) despite having serious criminal charges registered against them. They both later joined politics. Tiwari has been a six time MLA and has also been in the cabinet ministry for the state several times. Shahi has been two time MLA. He even contested a Lok Sabha election from inside prison.
Gradually this exercise of youth, having political aspirations for the future, entering the dark path of crime to follow the command of their political maestro is not new in this nation. For a youth which is jobless and restless, a few thousand rupees, a ‘desi katta’ and a caste backing him is enough to turn him into a short minded criminal, who in his upcoming time might turn out to be another Vikas Dubey, who will at first will provide muscle power and then hold sway in 10-12 villages that can influence a few thousand votes which will hold the key to any election.
People of their caste are the first to support these players, which gives them political strength. As a result, they become participants in the politics of their neighbourhood, district and, ultimately, the state. Political parties use them, while they misappropriate politics to strengthen their clout. In a matter of time, he could start contesting the elections on his own with his ‘crime-politics’ nexus and even win the Assembly or the Lok Sabha polls. Sometimes, even from jail. Later they will be designated with the image of Robin Hood as they help the local people financially in getting their daughters/sisters married, helping them in getting their land free from other goons. In turn, they live in safe mansions surrounded by bodyguards belonging to the same or nearby villages or their own caste/religion. It’s easy for them to earn money as they run a lucrative contract business and also have shares in Government agreements for the development of roads, dams and bridges in their respective constituencies. In Government parlance, it is called the “mafia share.” Later, the dons graduate to running big criminal operations, including extortions and kidnappings and if required, murder. In this way, the ‘criminalisation of politics’ and ‘politicisation of crime’ are inextricably linked.
Before being elected as the prime minister of India, Mr. Narendra Modi in his public address had vowed to “clean” India’s politics. “No accused (with criminal charges) will dare to fight polls. Who says this cleansing is not possible,” he said, and “that the country must do away with the criminalisation of politics and delivering more lectures won’t help”. Six years later, far from that promise being fulfilled, the Kanpur bloodbath makes it clear the criminalisation of politics has reached unprecedented levels.
The phase has come for some serious introspection. As stated by the former U.P state DGP Vikram Singh, “The Kanpur incident is proof of the deepening nexus between ‘Khaki’ (the police), ‘Khadi’ (Politicians) and the criminals.” This is the right time for the judiciary to step up and bulldoze this reinforcing nexus. As per the data released by the Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, there are 59,867 cases pending in the Supreme Court, and 44.75 lakh cases in various high courts. At the district and subordinate court levels, the number of pending cases stands at a shocking 3.14 cr. This data directly implicates how delay in justice is permitting the criminals to bail out. This was very much evident in the case of Dubey, who, despite facing around 70 criminal charges, including that of the murder of a Minister-rank leader, was roaming free, building his empire.
The first step which should be taken is that the Parliament should amend Article 102 of the Constitution and provisions of the People’s Act to disqualify unworthy candidates. However, chances of the government doing so are on the slimline because such candidates have clout and they come along with a winning hand. In fact, the rules are so moderated that currently, even candidates jailed can contest elections! There clearly has been no serious attempt, to deterge this distorted system. To handle this root problem, India needs a cohesive approach to make its election financing unclouded and ensure that people have access to better services and an equitable justice delivery system.
We need a holistic change in all sectors where crime is crushed at the very beginning so that we do not birth more Dubeys and judiciary being the most puissant has this obligation and commitment of making our nation denude from this treacherous nexus.
Written by Abhijeet Shekhawat