Politics of corruption and money

Two decades ago I was amused at the records of a Pune-based company which listed Sharad Pawar as a “social worker” residing in a multi-storied apartment at Malabar Hill. Many from the middle class would love to live in Malabar Hill and become social workers, devoting their life and energies for “poverty alleviation” and “upliftment of the poor”. One reason why they can’t realise such dreams, howsoever, sincere they be, is because they belong to the middle class. Their lives and those of their families are engrossed in earning a livelihood and there’s no escape from this cycle unless one becomes fabulously rich one way or the other.

Make no mistake. Politics is a game of the wealthy in India and the richer you become in the shortest possible time, the better are your chances of rising. The spectacle of a Samajwadi Party leader giving out Rs100 notes at a gathering in Etawah or of Govinda giving out a few Rs500 notes during Holi celebrations is the stark reality of Indian elections. We laugh because our hardened cynicism tells us that this happens at every election, municipal or parliamentary — large groups of people refuse to step out to vote unless they are adequately appeased “with Mahatma Gandhis”.

A young, well-meaning municipal corporator from Pune once told me that he had to spend nearly Rs1.25 crore to win a ward-level election. Money had to be paid to get the party nomination; to silence opposition candidates and trouble makers and for slum voters. To stay afloat, he has to keep paying — to people from his constituency who matter, to his political bosses and to poor irritants who expect and demand money in times of trouble, death or marriage. Where does he get the money unless he cuts deals in civic tenders and public projects?

Politicians understand this. Barring a few honest politicians — many Left leaders being foremost among them — most convert their ill-gotten wealth into legitimate businesses such as hotels, restaurants, resorts; car and scooter dealerships and get into mega land deals, almost always in the name of family members. In previous years, allotment of petrol pump licences was one effective way of rewarding key loyalists and today many of these lackeys are MLAs and ministers.  Once a secondary source of legitimate income is established, they are free to “play politics”.

This mechanism is at the heart of the many crorepatis in Indian politics today, irrespective of the parties they belong to. The bigger your political ambition, the bigger needs to be your war-chest. Does it therefore come as a surprise that Mayawati has emerged as the “richest chief minister in 30 states” in a recent survey of India’s richest politicians? Therefore, it is not uncommon to hear people say they don’t mind a corrupt politician “as long as he does good work”. Money in politics is like adultery — to be understood and condoned. Politicians justify their corruption saying that they need to come to power “in the larger interest of the nation”. It is almost like gangster Chhota Rajan demanding some years ago that he be recognised for his patriotism as he was out to get India’s most-wanted criminal, Dawood Ibrahim. One can justify anything if one wants to and politicians are adept at this.

The situation is not entirely hopeless and it is essentially middle class values that will make the change. Voting is one direct way of  becoming politically assertive. The other ways to clean our system is for upright people in the press, the civil services, the judiciary, the NGOs, the police, army and other institutions to fight corruption — overtly or covertly. The Right to Information Act 2005, media exposes such as former BJP president Bangaru Laxman accepting cash and the  work done by the  Central Vigilance commissioners and election commissioners and the whistle-blowing leaks effective methods. They have made a difference in the past and will do so too in the future.