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India is Now Securely in The Hands of A New Mafiosi

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A report by India’s Association for Democratic Reforms says that as many as 11 of the 21 newly inducted ministers in the Modi cabinet are facing serious criminal cases, including attempt to murder, communal disharmony and electoral violations.

In the overall government cabinet, the Prime Minister -- as well as the head of his party, the BJP -- still have accusations of involvement in mass-murders which remain unresolved.

The same report also discloses that of the 66 ministers now in Modi’s Cabinet, 59 (92%) were multi-millionaires (even when measured in Dollars, not Rupees) with average assets of the newly inducted ministers being ~ Rs.184.8 million -- that is, almost 4 million dollars ... this in a country where the majority, almost a billion people, live in poverty and do not even have a toilet for their daily ablutions.

Political office in India gives hardened criminals instant immunity from prosecution and, at the same time, free and easy access to laundering and multiplying their ill-gotten wealth by freely dipping into public coffers.



Attempted murder, waging war on the state, criminal intimidation and fraud are some of the charges on the rap sheets of ministers Prime Minister Narendra Modi appointed to the cabinet on Sunday, November 9, 2014, jarring with his pledge to clean up politics.

Seven of the 21 new ministers face prosecution, taking the total in the 66-member cabinet to almost one third, a higher proportion than before the weekend expansion. At least five people in the cabinet have been charged with serious offences such as rape and rioting.

Finance minister Arun Jaitley, who has become the government’s chief apologist with respect to its busy slate of fresh scandals, said any suggestions there were criminals in the cabinet were "completely baseless".

"These are cases arising out of criminal accusations, not cases out of a crime," he told reporters on Monday, November 10, 2014, adding that Modi had personally vetted the new ministers and knew of their pending criminal charges.

Ram Shankar Katheria, a ‘lawmaker’ from Agra, was appointed an Education Minister yet has been accused of more than 20 criminal offences including attempted murder and promoting religious or racial hostility.

Katheria was not immediately available for comment and a mobile phone number given by his office was switched off.

The inclusion of such politicians does not sit easily with Modi's election promise to root out corruption, and has led to criticism that he is failing to change the political culture in India where wealthy, tainted politicians sometimes find it easier to win votes.

"It shows scant respect for the rule of law or public sentiment," said Jagdeep Chhokar, co-founder of the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) which campaigns for better governance. "Including these people in the cabinet is a bad omen for our democracy."

Modi won the biggest parliamentary majority in three decades in May with a promise of graft-free governance after the previous government led by Congress party was mired in a series of damaging corruption scandals.

NEW CABINET MORE TAINTED THAN OLD?

Soon after coming to power, Modi called for courts to fast track cases against politicians in an effort to curb political criminality in the world's largest democracy.

Yet Modi's cabinet includes twice as many politicians facing criminal charges as the previous Congress party one!

Hansraj Gangaram Ahir, a new Chemicals and Fertilizer Minister, was another eye-catching choice. He is charged with around 20 offences, including intent to wage war against India, criminal intimidation and abetting a mutiny.

Ahir did not respond to requests for comment, and it was not immediately clear what incidents the more serious charges pertained to. His secretary said the cases were politically motivated.

Ahir is best known for helping unearth corruption in the coal industry while he served on a parliamentary committee. Shrikant Sharma, a spokesperson for Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), said it was up to courts to decide if ministers were guilty, and said many of the charges related to political rivalries.

The BJP is led by Amit Shah, who is accused of ordering police to carry out three extrajudicial killings and running an extortion racket when he served under Modi as home minister in Gujarat almost a decade ago.

He has denied the charges. He is facing a trial in Mumbai. The number of lawmakers charged with offences has more than doubled in the last two decades. About a third of federal and state legislators face charges, the ADR said.

Politicians facing criminal charges are twice as likely to win an election as their untainted peers, making them the preferred choice of candidates for political parties in India, according to a study published last year by the group.

In office, these politicians are sometimes accused of enriching themselves or their backers by siphoning off money from government spending.

"We hear again and again the country's leaders promise to clean up the system," said Satish Misra, a political analyst at the Observer Research Foundation. "Self interest prevails over principles. That is why the system never changes."


[Courtesy: Reuters. Edited for sikhchic.com]
November 11, 2014
 

Conversation about this article

1: Devinder Pal Singh (Delhi, India), November 11, 2014, 9:01 AM.

Perhaps without a significant criminal track record, our politicians cannot make it into the cabinet. The trend is being witnessed in every day life, brazen behaviour of youth exhibits an ever enlarging moral void and is tainting the populace which wants to live honestly and with social responsibility. One can easily understand what stalls the process of delivering good for this country.

2: Sunny Singh Grewal (Abbotsford, British Columbia, Canada), November 11, 2014, 1:40 PM.

The argument that they are using is that these people have been charged but not yet found guilty. If this is the standard that they are using to determine their eligibility to become lawmakers, we need to note that it is a country where the courts take decades for even a simple case to be completed ... and if you have money and power, it never reaches trial. Proof: that's how Sajjan and Tytler and Kamal Nath and Modi and Amit Shah managed to be elected and stay in politics.

3: Tessa Kaur (London, United Kingdom), November 12, 2014, 4:18 AM.

Is there a provision in the Indian Penal Code which automatically absolves an alleged criminal of murder or other serious crimes merely on offering the smoke-screen of a defence that the accusers are 'politically motivated'? No wonder India's politicians think they are above the law. In civilized countries, the term applicable here is "OUTLAWS"!

4: Gurteg Singh (New York , USA), November 12, 2014, 10:47 AM.

Prime Minister Modi and his fascist Hindu Nazi party, RSS, is very actively engaged in the Hinduization (saffornization) of India. Besides printing Hindu-centric and dishonest text books, it is actively filling every Government post with its Sangh Parcharaks. Three new chief Ministers and almost all new Governors are RSS and lifelong Nikardhari members. But Sikhs are now the direct target of Nagpur think tanks who are bent upon completely finishing the unique Sikh identity. The latest alarming reports from Punjab have placed the number of RSS Shakhas in Punjab at 600 with two hundered more planned in the coming months. The ABVP - the student wing of RSS is holding its national conference in Amritsar in a Chief Khalsa Diwan school. Just yesterday the Delhi Gurdwara Parbadhanak Members attended a RSS conference called "Rashtriya Sikh Sangat." The Sikhs in India are led by collaborator Parkash Badal whose kursi depends at the mercy of his RSS masters.

5: Kaala Singh (Punjab), November 12, 2014, 12:25 PM.

@#4: The Islamic invaders from Afghanistan and the Middle East failed to wipe us out, the Mughal rulers of India and their collaborators, the Hindu rajas failed to wipe us out during the times of our Gurus. In our times the likes of Nehru, Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi failed to do that. Now, the RSS too shall fail.

6: Kaala Singh (Punjab), November 14, 2014, 3:36 PM.

The words of Winston Churchill have come true. He had opposed independence for India. Following are his words - "Power will go to the hands of rascals, rogues, freebooters; all Indian leaders will be of low caliber and men of straw. They will have sweet tongues and silly hearts. They will fight amongst themselves for power and India will be lost in political squabbles. A day would come when even air and water would be taxed in India." A foreign occupying power was replaced by a bunch of local ruffians in 1947 and now after 67 years, the process of criminalization of India is complete.

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