Degradation of 'parliamentarians' & responsibility of electorates

Ranjan Kumar Padmapati

Winston Churchill said, "Power will go to the hands of rascals, rouges, freebooters; all Indian leaders will be of low caliber and man of straw. They will have sweet tongues and silly hearts. They will fight amongst themselves, for power and India will be lost to political squabbles. A day would come when even air and water will be taxed." The above comments prompted me to ponder over the prevailing situation all over the country in view of the ongoing election process.

Churchill was wrong at that point of time when the comment was made just before the transfer of power to the Indians. Freedom was attained after a long struggle under the leadership of Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru and many others. The first batch of 489 MPs, elected in 1952, represented the wishes of 17.3 crore of Indian electorates. Congress won the absolute majority with 364 seats. They contributed much and had made sacrifices in the freedom movement. Their hearts were filled with a brand of rare patriotism. Those patriots are Pt Jawaharlal Nehru, Vallabhbhai Patel, Maulana Azad, Acharya Kripalani just to name a few. Those were definitely not rascals, rouges, persons of silly hearts as claimed by Churchill. Nehru inducted persons of high calibers in his cabinet like Dada Saheb Ambedkar and VK Krishna Menon even from outside the Congress party.

But it is true that Indian politics gradually deteriorated. The images of the Parliament House and State Assembly have been tarnished to a greater extent with the passage of time. Some of the present politicians are without any character. There are some exceptions, of course. This downward trend started after the death of Nehru. Regional and communal aspirations have crept into politics and occupied the topmost priority. Communal hatred has spread throughout the country.

At the same time, Churchill could not be rejected straightway in the prevailing circumstances, looking at present scenario after 70 years of Independence. Persons of dubious integrity and criminal records have made their entry to the highest law-making fora, the Parliament and the Assembly. The number of MPs with criminal records has gradually increased since 2004.

In 2004, the total number with both serious and minor offences was 128; in 2009, it was 160; in 2014, it was 196; and during the first phase in 2019, it is 174. Of the sitting 521 MPs, 174 MPs comprising 33.34 per cent have criminal records. Of all the States, Maharashtra with 31 MPs tops the list followed by Bihar with 27 MPs and UP with 25 MPs having criminal records. According to a leaked document, four sitting MPs and 11 MLAs from Assam have criminal records. India is probably the only country in the world where a known notorious bandit queen like Phoolan Devi could be elected to the Parliament, definitely reflected a bad taste of the electorates. Another MP from Bihar has 24 cases pending with serious charges booked under Section 42 of the IPC. Parliamentary democracy requires persons of high caliber and virtues with ability to perform better and better.

Another point under consideration is the educational qualifications of the MPs and MLAs. No specific qualification is prescribed for MPs and MLAs. The qualifications laid down in the Constitution are that an aspirant needs to be a citizen of India and must attain the age of 25 years for MPs and 30 years for the Rajya Sabha.

The status of the 16th Lok Sabha indicates that 10 per cent of the MPs are not even matriculate. A Central minister read up to Class-VI only. Almost an illiterate person can become the political executive of the country and take decisions on singularly important matters. The statistics of the first-phase polls which concluded on April 11 last reveal that 526 candidates — representing 42 percentage — read between Class-V to XII, 619 candidates — 49 percentage — are graduates, 19 candidates have been declared as 'just literate', while 66 candidates are 'illiterate'. A member of the House is required to be a person with sufficient knowledge to represent the constituency with much vocal power and reason, and should be able to take part in the debates on important matters. It is gathered that there are 200 subjects in the Central and Concurrent lists of the Constitution, on which the candidates need to be convergent with to become a good parliamentarian. Unfortunately, most of the members fail in discharging their duties and remain dormant as dummy dolls.

In India, the vast majority of the people are marginalized people but their representatives are from the creamy layers of the society. According to the ADR report, 153 sitting MPs were re-elected in 2014 and their average assets have increased to Rs 13.32 crore from Rs 5.5 crore in 2009 — an average growth of Rs 7.8 crore. Rahul Gandhi's assets increased to Rs 7 crore in 2014 from Rs 2 crore in 2009 — a growth of 304 per cent. The growth of assets of Amit Shah, the BJP president, is Rs 38.81 crore from Rs 11.79 crore in 2014. In general, Communist MPs showed a decline of assets; and the poorest candidate is Sumendha Nand Saraswati — a seer from Rajasthan – with declared assets of Rs 31,311. The average jump of 72 MPs of the BJP is Rs 7.5 crore — a growth of 140 per cent, while that of 28 Congress MPs is Rs 6.35 crore, showing a growth of 109 per cent.

The income of the BJP during 2017-2018 is Rs 1,027.34 crore (known sources: Rs 473.96 crore; voluntary contribution: Rs 342.66 crore; electoral bond: 210 crore; and from unknown sources: Rs 553.38 crore). The first phase of the Parliamentary polls that concluded on April 11 reveals that 83 candidates of the Congress have average assets worth Rs 21.93 crore, 83 BJP candidates have average assets of Rs 14.56 crore and 32 MPs of the Bahujan Samaj Party have average assets worth Rs 12. 63 crore. In the first phase, the average assets per candidate is Rs 6.6 crore and 401 candidates representing 32 per cent have average assets worth Rs one crore. Though the Election Commission limits the election expenses at Rs 50-70 lakh for an MP and that for an MLA at Rs 20-28 lakh, money power decides election results while money, drugs, gold and liquor worth Rs 1,089 crore have been seized by police in the first phase. Nehru said, "The manner of losing or wining is more important than the result. It is better to lose in the right way than to win in the wrong way." No greater challenge has been ever posed before the electorates to choose the righteous persons or power will definitely go to the hands of rascals, rouges, and freebooters as commented by Churchill.