Bharatiya Politics: Wealth Creation Machine Masquerading as “Public Service”

GG News Bureau
New Delhi, 6th April.  The detention of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal can be understood in light of broader political issues, including corruption, the legal system and general politics. This whole problem is a sad commentary on our flawed political-social structure. Due to their influence from caste, religion and regional feelings as well as their participation in power politics, the Bharatiya government’s institutions, both the ruling and opposition parties and the majority of the populace are all partly to blame for this. This is a critical juncture in Bharatiya politics, with more reasons for discontent than for celebration.

Although this is an inadequate perspective, the Bharatiya Janata Party should be held primarily accountable for the state of affairs now as it is in power. This whole scenario is the result of our politics. Naturally, there are a lot of honest people in this, but they are not the ones influencing the politics.

The role of investigative organizations

According to media reports, 25 politicians who were under investigation by central agencies for alleged corruption have defected from their parties and joined the Bharatiya Janata Party since 2014. Ten of these came from Congress, four from the NCP and Shiv Sena, two from the TDP and one each from the SP and YSR Congress. Of them, 23 have resulted in the leaders receiving relief. Twenty cases are at a standstill, and three have been closed entirely.

Just prior to this year’s elections, the six party leaders on this list resigned. 95% of the politicians against whom central agencies have taken action since 2014 are members of opposition parties, according to an earlier analysis published in 2022 by the Bharatiya Express. Now, opposition parties are referring to the BJP as a “washing machine. An investigation earlier in 2009 had disclosed how, during the Congress-led UPA rule, the CBI had shifted its investigative position against leaders of the BSP, Mayawati, and the SP, Mulayam Singh. Additionally, it seems from media reports that Maharashtra is connected to a significant percentage of these occurrences. This news won’t comprehend the full scenario because it is reporting on events that occurred after 2014.

Combat corruption

Taking on corruption is a better idea than any other. However, the approach now being used is opaque and biased. Politics should not have become so morally bankrupt. Speaking out against corruption is a wonderful thing, but it cannot be a one-sided battle. Yet, pointing the finger solely at the BJP will not be helpful. There has always been political malpractice prior to 1947. It was a national movement, of sure, but nothing should be held in high regard just because of this. Poverty and socialism are rife in our politics, but the power is still held by another elite. Currently, aspirants are paying millions of rupees to obtain tickets. Even running for office is impossible for the impoverished. A Rajya Sabha member reportedly stated, “a person told me that a Rajya Sabha seat is available for Rs 100 crore,” according to news media in 2013. Afterwards, he reversed it, but was this entirely incorrect?

Leaders of the crorepati community made up 442 of the 543 MPs elected to the Lok Sabha in 2014. The wealthiest of them all possessed assets over Rs 683 crore. There were 475 members of Crorepati in 2019. Out of them, 266 members had assets worth more than Rs 5 crore. Politics is being progressively dominated by a small group of wealthy families and the rich, not by the wealth of the leaders. This is elitism plain and simple, not only dynasticism.

Hypocrisy in politics

Prior to independence, hypocrisy in politics is also a tradition from the past; it does not exist today. Since then, it has grown and become more accepted. People anticipated their rule even before they gained freedom. Yashpal’s ‘Jhootha-Sach’ and Nagarjuna’s writings expose the hypocrisy of the national cause and feature a plethora of similar characters and circumstances. Both the Padma Award and the Freedom Fighter Pension were given to him.

A factory that produces wealth

Of course, there were and still are a lot of people among them who were genuinely involved in the struggle, but in general, politics has progressively gotten more elite, and the slogans have shifted to focus more on the people. It is now a factory producing wealth. Herein lies the duplicity. A large number of the original Parliament’s members, established in 1952, were bicycle riders. Bicycles were once used not just by MPs but also by judges of the Supreme Court and the High Court. State government Ministers were also frequently spotted sitting on rickshaws until the 1960s. This bicycle eventually began to resemble a symbol. There was significance involved when Mulayam Singh chose the bicycle as the election emblem in the 1990s. Akhilesh Yadav exclusively spoke to the public during his bicycle rallies during the 2012 assembly elections. It is rumored that he rode a Mercedes bicycle, which would fetch many thousand dollars.

Aam Aadmi Party

Even though one may think highly of the Aam Aadmi Party when it was founded in 2013, in reality it has deteriorated. Changes in this perception began during the anti-corruption movement. The aspirations of every Bharatiya were elevated immediately upon the party’s foundation. They sensed that something novel might occur. Even though people may no longer be convinced by Kejriwal and his associates’ theatricality, since a wide range of people were aligning with them, there was a chance that their influence might force a structural shift. However, this did not take place. Like every other party, the Aam Aadmi Party likewise turned out to be a party. The State Bank provided the Election Commission with all of the electoral bond details on the same evening that Kejriwal was taken into custody. By evening, the specifics started to surface. If we examine the bond’s details now in the context of Kejriwal’s accusations. What distinguishes the two from one another? Is this the method by which funds will be gathered to run political parties? The majority of opposition parties, including the Congress, as well as the BJP, must respond to this question. The only groups that can claim that they are not playing this game are the communists, as they did not open bank accounts to receive such money, in addition to their formal opposition to the system.

Political prejudice

While it is inadmissible that leaders of the Aam Aadmi Party should face unfair punishment, the majority of political responses have focused on how this arrest will impact the Lok Sabha elections. The Congress party is now supporting Kejriwal on this issue, while previously criticizing him on it. Some people think that there is fascism, that the nation is in worse shape than Emergency, etc. All of this is just bluster.

Though they are not as adept at employing political jargon as other parties, the nation’s communist parties are generally superior to others in terms of discipline and ideological comprehension. They struggled to relate to the majority of the nation and were never quite sure if independence had actually occurred after a protracted period of confusion. They made no attempt to modify or test their economic theories over time.

Left-wing hypocrisy

There has been no resurgence of communist politics in West Bengal since the 34-year-old Left Front government left in May 2011. They were moved out of Tripura as well, left alone in Kerala. The course taken by CPM when it was founded in 1964 shifted after 1977. The party was under pressure to raise his capital expenditure in Bengal. Preserving the factories that were closing was difficult. We had to control our own radical labor organizations as a result. In order to obtain a loan from the World Bank and assistance with international capital investment, Chief Minister Jyoti Basu was required to travel to the United States.

This attempt was unsuccessful for Buddhadeb Dasgupta’s previous government, which ended in 2011. The 2006 elections saw a resounding victory for the Left Front. Following it, the state’s industrialization and modernization program got underway. The IT industry was kept out of trade unions in order to shield it against strikes. Forced industrialization was formulated by the same party that had contributed to halting the state’s industrial growth. Nandigram is where the brutal kind of state-sponsored violence was first observed. Tata’s Nano factory then returned from Singur.