Most Indian political parties are perceived as corrupt by the voters

Generally, corruption per se is a non-issue before contesting political parties and most of the electorates.

Nantoo Banerjee, IPA, 11 April 2024 : Who is afraid of corruption? Certainly not India’s political parties battling against each other in the current Lok Sabha election campaign. Nor are the general public, who have been, more nilly than willy, part of the country’s vicious system of corruption for years. 

Raids at premises and arrests of select opposition state leaders on corruption charges by central investigative agencies such as CBI, ED, and income-tax department are unlikely to change the general public perception that all political parties are corrupt. 

They think the pre-election arrest of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has more to do with the intention of preventing the popular politician from taking part in the election campaign than anything else. Generally, corruption per se is a non-issue before contesting political parties and most of the electorates. 

Corruption charges against state opposition leaders are often dropped after they join the Bharatiya Janata Party, the key political entity in the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) at the Centre, leading the pre-poll anti-corruption drive.

If the corruption charges against Praful Patel, allegedly involved in a Rs.25,000-crore aircraft purchase scam when he was the union civil aviation minister, can be dropped after he joined the Ajit Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party, a part of the BJP-led ruling political coalition in Maharashtra, the recent ED arrest of Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal for his alleged involvement in a state liquor policy overhaul case would appear to be for pittance as it is claimed to involve a transfer of only Rs.100 crore to Delhi’s ruling Aam Aadmi Party’s kitty. 

The Congress has targeted the Centre and BJP over the CBI closure report in the Air India corruption case during Praful Patel’s tenure. Recently, the Congress party gave a ‘live demo’ of how the BJP ‘washing machine’ works to remove ‘stain’. Congress leader Pawan Khera says the ruling party’s formula is ‘join BJP, case closed.

’It is difficult to ignore the fact that Kejriwal’s arrest may have been intended to prevent the AAP supremo from the ongoing Lok Sabha election campaign. In the 2019 LokSabha election, BJP had won all the seven Lok Sabha seats from Delhi. But in 2020, Kejriwal’s AAP swept Delhi’s assembly election to the consternation of the BJP. Kejriwal’s arrest is different from similar actions taken of late by the ED against other opposition state-level leaders. 

Coming less than a month before the general elections, the timing of the arrest of Kejriwal raises several questions with the AAP workers and the public.

The entire opposition had hit the streets of Delhi in protest. The so-called Delhi liquor scam involved the state’s government paving the way for privatization of retail sales of liquor. What about privatization of airports, ports and infrastructure projects rather cheaply by the national government? Unfortunately for the BJP, Kejriwal’s arrest has helped unite the entire opposition against the national ruling party apart from evoking international criticism against the India government. 

India is rated as one of the world’s most corrupt large democracies. Good numbers of India’s political satraps are known to be involved in financial corruption and other criminal operations. Some of them may have even felt proud of such charges levelled against them or even their

convictions. 

For instance, 75-year-old former Bihar chief minister Lalu Prasad Yadav, convicted in a massive fodder scam case involving around Rs.10,000 crore, continues to be a prominent leader in the national opposition alliance(I.N.D.I.A) against the BJP. 

On conviction, Lalu Prasad Yadav served a jail term until April 17, 2021, when he was granted bail by the Patna High Court. No one is complaining now about Lalu Prasad’s active role in uniting the opposition. Nor is Lalu Prasad hiding his face in shame.

Crime and corruption have been part of democratic India’s political life. Being in jail often gives a macho-man image to political leaders before their followers after they get released. This could explain how so many tainted political leaders, across parties, manage to get public mandate to become lawmakers. 

According to a report by the Association of Democratic Reforms (ADR), 40 percent of sitting Parliament members (MPs) had declared criminal cases against them, with 25 percent of legislators accused of serious offences such as murder, attempt to murder, kidnapping, and crimes against women. 

The ADR report, titled ‘Analysis of Sitting MPs from Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha of India 2023,” was released last year. Thanks to their poor conviction rate, ED and CBI cases are rarely taken seriously by both the aggrieved political parties and the public. Most politicians in power in states or at the Centre are shamelessly used to indulge in corruption. The longer a political party stays in power, the stronger is its level of corruption. In states, it controls the police and state investigative agencies such as C.I.D. 

At the Centre, the party or its combination in power controls national investigative agencies such as ED and CBI. It is said that a lack of transparency in government processes, decision-making, and public administration provides fertile ground for corrupt practices.

The only way to control political corruption is to use the power of ballots by the electorates to change the government every five years. This will prevent the ruling party from building a strong and lasting nexus with the police, various investigative agencies, and administration to fleece the government fund and indulge in other corrupt prices such as kickbacks and falsification of expenditure.

The police, the investigation agencies and administration are expected to be afraid of probes against their actions or inactions by a totally new government after the election. 

A regular change of government is fundamental to good democratic practices and governance. Corruption can be eradicated only with the combined efforts of the electorates and the government. 

The laws to punish people engaging incorruption must be enforced regularly. In the words of former vice-president of India M. Venkaiah Naidu, “when criminals turn into elected representatives and become lawmakers, they pose a serious threat to the functioning of a democratic system. This perilous drift needs to be checked both by all political parties as well as the judiciary.” It is most unlikely that he excluded the majority ruling party at the Centre from his contention.