India: Lalu Prasad Yadav = Corruption

Victory For Lalu Prasad Yadav In Bihar Is Defeat For Anti-Corruption Movement In India

by N.S.Venkataraman

( November 10, 2015, Chennai, Sri Lanka Guardian) In recent times, India has seen strong anti corruption movement led by Anna Hazare during Manmohan Singh’s governance. However, the movement lost it’s steam a bit, with one leading member of the anti corruption movement opting to get into active politics, forming a political party and then successfully using the image that he gained as anti corruption crusader to win election and become Chief Minister of a state. The sad part was that he himself has been now accused for activities which are widely suspected to be not honest, particularly with regard to the way money was collected for election campaigning and later on, the party itself got split with serious allegations being made against the founder , who was once hailed as anti corruption crusader.

This development certainly brought down the morale of the anti corruption crusaders in India. Now, the anti corruption movement in India has met the death blow, with Lalu Prasad Yadav, who was convicted for corruption charges, leading his party to a massive victory in the recent Bihar election.

Lalu Prasad Yadav was the Chief Minister of Bihar for several years and faced serious corruption charges , on account of what is now notoriously known as fodder scam. He was convicted by the court and was jailed and as a result of conviction, he cannot contest election or occupy ministerial post for several years. Lalu Prasad Yadav is on bail now and his appeal is pending in the court.

Many thought that such a politician against whom corruption charges have been proved in the court resulting in his conviction, would face humiliation and would have to go away from public life in future. But, this has not happened.

Inspite of Lalu Prasad Yadav being on bail, his party under his leadership contested the Bihar poll in alliance with Nitish Kumar’s party ,though Nitish Kumar has claimed himself to be a strong anti corruption crusader on several occasions. But, Nitish Kumar has no hesitation in aligning with Lalu Prasad Yadav ,who is a convicted person on corruption charges.

What is even more disturbing for the anti corruption crusaders in India is that the party led by Lalu Prasad Yadav has won large number of seats in Bihar assembly election and has emerged as the party with largest number of members in the assembly. This scenario has caused severe set back for anti corruption movement in India.

Though Nitish Kumar will be the Chief Ministerof the new government in Bihar,, Lalu Prasad Yadav will have many of his party men as ministers in the cabinet and obviously he will have full say in the governance of Bihar for the next five years. In other words, a person convicted of corruption charges and barred from contesting elections for number of years will be virtually ruling Bihar.

Now, under the circumstances, where does the anti corruption movement in India go from here.?

Bihar voters have given a decisive blow to the anti corruption movement in India and have rendered the movement impotent and weak , by exercising their vote in favour of a person convicted for corruption charges.

While Lalu Prasad Yadav is having the last laugh, several other politicians in India, who are facing corruption charges or have already been convicted by the court and got the proceedings stayed in higher court with judicial process continuing, will be laughing up their sleeve. The voters of Bihar have given a new hope for such political leaders facing corruption charges.

Certainly, as of now, the anti corruption movement in India has lost the fight. It need to get it’s strength back to resurrect itself but if the voters would tolerate corrupt political leaders, the voice of anti corruption movement in India is bound to be in the wilderness.