The Article doesn't cover basics of Criminality of Indian Politicians.<p>These are just two example in last week from 1 south Indian state caught on camera (Because Local media would not cover since pretty much media in state supports ruling party):<p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wOueUSVSuYk" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wOueUSVSuYk</a> [1]<p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3hG2fqW-tcM" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3hG2fqW-tcM</a> [2]<p>Very rarely criminality of Indian politicians comes out because Media do not want to cover it. These showed up because someone could record. But in both cases, elected representatives and their goons are already out of trouble.<p>India is a land of lawlessness and that's a reality.<p>[1]A journalist being beaten by local representatives brother because he wrote on their corruption.<p>[2]Goons of local representative beating a women (1 eyed mind you) because she didn't agree for their illegal construction in front of her house.
Rampant corruption has turned a lot of people into cynics in India. The phrase "Kuch nahi ho sakda India da. China dekh lo kithe pahunch gya" (Nothing will happen in India. See the development in China) gets thrown around a lot in a conversation.<p>It isn't a problem that affects a single party, both the ruling BJP and the Congress have the same issues. The problem with BJP being our Dear Leader being rather illiterate and surrounded by "Yes Men". The man behind the demonetization was found out to be an individual with a PhD in Yoga. And of course, there's 2002.<p>The Congress being the Congress mired itself with a series of scams in it's second term, and thus began what Bannon calls the "start of the right-wing revolt".<p>A personal anecdote about the Congress: A cousin of mine once decided to run for the Lok Sabha but quickly changed his mind because he found out the Congress guy was bribing the poor people (of which there were a lot in his village) with bottles of Johnie-Walker from the past two elections. And ofcourse, it was easy for the said Congress individual to do so because the then Chief Minister was close to Ponty Chadha, the liquor baron with a monopoly in the state of Punjab, for which the CM went to Dubai unannounced [1].<p>You could write a multi-volume encyclopedia on the tales of the corrupt Indian Politician.<p>[1]<a href="http://www.tribuneindia.com/2005/20050712/main3.htm" rel="nofollow">http://www.tribuneindia.com/2005/20050712/main3.htm</a>
I have another theory. You don't get votes in India. You buy them. A wannabe politician needs a lot of money to win an election. Criminals who have made money through bootlegging or by beating up people have a leg up in this respect. Once they get to power, they indulge in corruption to pay off the people who helped them win and to save for the next election. The next election, they have more money to pay the average voter so his competitor needs to be an even bigger criminal.
The article fails to differentiate between charges and conviction. In India anyone can get charged for a crime no one ever gets conviction.<p>As an Indian I think Criminality of Indian Politicians is a non issue. Very few of the politicians are actual hard criminals. Most face charges that anyone in important position is likely to face.<p>Nearly all my politician friends have been in jail and have criminal records but I can vouch they are pretty good people.<p>India does not uniform laws and far too many laws to deal with the exactly same crime.<p>Examples:
1. One of my friend has been fighting in court for last <i></i>7 years<i></i> over a case registered on him by his political opponent. My friend called him "asshole". However as per Indian law it is a crime to abuse a person if the person belongs to specific caste (SC/ST) not just that, the police are required to register the case even if they think the charges are frivolous or unsubstantiated. This gentleman has been visiting court every few months. The charges will be dropped some day as a political bargaining chip.<p>2. I barely escaped having a criminal record when I participated in a political movement. The cops basically filed any random charges against the protestors including molestation, attempt to murder and what not. I escaped because I had a fake ID card with fake name on it.<p>3. A lot of civil offenses are "crimes" in India.<p>For example you are CEO of a publishing company that publishes a scholarly book on world mythologies. Some person files a complain saying you (CEO) has hurt the sentiments of public which is a criminal offense. India Ebay CEO was arrested as a criminal becomes someone sold a CD on the website that had porn clip in it !<p>4. Courts that don't work.<p>Indian courts spend time only on cases that make the judges popular. Such as cases that involve celebrities or cricket. That is why conviction rates are next to nothing. One Indian celebrity recently got acquited from tow major crimes after around 12 years of fight.<p>5. Drinking wine or beer might be a crime in some states and in one state they want to give capital punishment for the same.<p>6. Eating beef might be a criminal offense.
In case anyone wants to see more specific data, there is a site (<a href="http://netafilter.in/" rel="nofollow">http://netafilter.in/</a>) that displays all constituencies, their MPs and the number of cases filed against them on a map.
There are some comments in this thread bringing out examples of corruption in the West. While Western societies are by no means perfect and have their own warts, they are much better than India when it comes to corruption, effective judiciary, free press or tolerance for scandals.<p>People typically vote with their feet. If you have any doubts about which society treats its citizens better, just look at how many Indians are clamoring to get out of India and immigrate to USA/Europe and the numbers of Americans/Europeans wanting to immigrate to India.
>Mr Vaishnav dispels the conventional wisdom that crooks win because they can get voters to focus on caste or some other sectarian allegiance, thus overlooking their criminality. If anything, the more serious the charge, the bigger the electoral boost, as politicians well know.<p>Nothing in the article backs up this statement. I hope when the author publishes his book, somebody will point out why.<p>I believe caste and identity politics play a huge role in such elections. Thefts and crimes are ignored precisely because people think that XYZ crook(from their caste/community) has the courage to stand up to authority and will represent them properly.<p>Different communities promote up their own representatives and as the elections becomes dirtier, in the end only crooks from various communities stand up.<p>Kind of similar to how capitalism forces merchants to sacrifice most skills not relevant to 'reducing cost/making money', Indian politics does this to our MPs/constituencies. Money and muscle power become a pre-requisite for being considered as a possible electoral candidate.<p>Then again, the advent of social media and the internet has started changing things (I don't have stats to prove this though). Crimes committed by MPs (or their families) are being highlighted throughout the country and the guilty are being shamed. I use the word shamed because I am not too sure what happens once the media spotlight moves somewhere else. Possibly, they walk free...
Many US politicians and officials would easily be considered war criminals if there were any sort of binding international law. Even more would likely be jailed for activities that are well known if they weren't already powerful.<p>Once criminal organizations get powerful enough they can start doing extensive image management and PR, as well as building elaborate headquarters complete with fancy architecture, columns, etc.<p>Governments are simply the most successful criminal organizations. We the people are continually fooled by the grandeur of the columns and the silly dignity of the titles.<p>We're also overly grateful for the gifts of patronage they dole out to keep us at bay such as welfare, medals, etc.<p>The more pomp and circumstance, the more ritual and solemnity, the bigger the racket. It should be no surprise that both candidates in the recent US election still have numerous FBI investigations into their business dealings, and the majority of Americans considered both to be highly unfit for office.<p>Our presidential motorcade is a sham... The vehicles are tanks made to look like limousines, yet we'd look down upon a foreign leader who paraded around in a tank.<p>All tyrants attract sycophants, and in our case they make up most of the political and media elite. The most humiliating display in our nation is the exceedingly rare occasion when a president condescends to sit for a one-on-one interview. The softball questions are spoken with a humility (and a reassurance that there certainly won't be any sort of tough follow-up question) that should make us all gag.<p>In the US, there is a steady stream of news stories about corrupt or otherwise undesirable situations elsewhere in the world.
Indian villages are still tribal. The tribal cheiftains win the elections. As there is no legitimate methods to be chieftains, the way to be one is to show power or be a criminal. Now real power is with politician, and crininals become politicians. There is also corruption. The higher posts are occupied by castes in higher levels. There has to be a way to create a level playing field and that is not to stop corruption but force the bureaucrats to take bribes from all sections of the society. For that you need criminals as leaders. So OBC, other backward communities (official name) and communities in lower level elect leaders with criminal background. The communities in the top level have their members in bureaucracy and they are "influential".
India has one of the largest below poverty line and uneducated population in the world. Isn't it obvious that you can just win them over giving them a little money as less as 500 or 1000 Rs which is gonna make their days.
I remember when the voting guys come to my town, the parties generally setup up a buffet system for lunch and if you had voted for the party you get free lunch. An then there is giving free gifts like TV's, Phone's and mixers if you vote for them. Tell me can you challenge a system like this??
Ironically, the photo in the article is of former CM Jayalalitha who passed away last month. She has pending corruption cases against her. But when she died, the outpouring of praise from most people, many who were even against her while she was alive, has been unbelievable.
> "One can walk just about the whole way from Mumbai to Kolkata without stepping foot outside a constituency whose MP isn’t facing a charge."<p>So there's a line of clean constituencies from Mumbai to Kolkota? That 'isn't' should be an 'is'.
India does have a high level of criminality and corruption in politics, but it is different from the U.S. in one aspect.<p>An Indian politician who brags about sexual assault and doesn't even deny video-taped evidence of the bragging .... would have no chance of being elected as Prime Minister. As we demonstrated in November, American voters have a much higher tolerance level when it comes to electing our president.
Article sounds racist, but this is the economist after all.<p>Here is the thing - If you look at the past 5 Prime Ministers of India and compare them to the past 5 Presidents of the US, you will find that India more or less throws up much better candidates than the US for the top spot.<p>If Indian politicians had such a criminal record, this would be unlikely the case.
I'm an Indian and can verify that. A lot of scumbags keep winning and hold onto power here usually by hook or crook. In fact even the prime Minister modi was on a mass murdering case of Gujarat 2002. He was the chief minister when the riots Happened!! That guy has still not even apologized or said sorry to the families whose people were killed. The current govt has the largest share of criminals in power. There are some honest players coming up. We'll see if they are really honest in a few years.
This is why British offered a separate country to UC/BC/SC/ST/Sikh/Christian/Parsi/Buddhist/Jain communities in 1932 <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communal_Award" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communal_Award</a>