Are politicians shameless or fearless?

A question always crops up in my mind whether our politicians are really bothered about their reputation or they are simply shameless. We had seen the central Telecom Minister was imprisoned; many state ministers languished in jail.  The king maker of politicians and once a strong contender of the Prime Ministership, though self proclaimed, Lalu Prasad Yadav was behind the bars for fodder scam. He, of course, denied his involvement in the scam, but gracefully went to jail to show respect to our judiciary system. The pertinent question, what makes these politicians to land into the jail when they scream from the roof top that they are the custodians of the welfare of the proletariat. Even if you take the fact of a communist party leader like Jyoti Basu, he has never bothered to feel the lifestyle of a poor class, though he was the messiah of one of the poor parties of India, namely CPI (M).

I was more than startled when the news flashed some days ago in the paper that the present Tamilnadu Chief Minister was sentenced to a four years imprisonment for 18 years old corruption cases. In a bold judgment by the special judge John Michael D. Cunha, has given his historical verdict. Immediately, she was unseated from the post of the Chief Ministership and automatically debarred also from the post of MLA. This judgment can have an impact upon the assembly election due in another 18 months.

Since, she has been sentenced for a period of more than three years, she has to forego the coveted post, but she can apply for the bail from the Karnataka High Court, in the course of time. She has also been slapped with a fine of Rs. 100 crores, which is the highest ever imposed on any politician. The case of disproportionate assets of nearly 80 crores, which is condemned by the court, was the accrual between the periods of 1991 to 1996. The entire state of the Tamilnadu was fed with the information over the past few days about the reckless and rampant corruption of a politician, who has the mass support.  Her supporters, of course, burnt the effigies of the opposition leaders to show their solidarity behind their leader and her leadership.

If you delve into the deep of this kind of asset swindling case, you will be mesmerized to note the mastermind of her along with her three acquaintances.  These trustworthy friends were even given an opportunity to stay in her posh and swanky bungalow during the said period. Their fundamental role was to transfer funds from the then Chief Minister Jayalalitha’s account to various other fake accounts. There are various companies registered to carry on these types of fraudulent transactions, ultimately making the Chief Minister a very wealthy person.

The sentimental issues related to her imprisonment prompt a sporadic violence, but widespread rampage is not seen, at least in the state capital, Chennai. Though, the ruling party, organized a so called protest condemning the verdict of the court, which includes some film fraternities and voted politicians of AIADMK, but mass scale violence was not observed. Though the sporadic incidence of violence and rampage was observed in many parts of the state, but the spontaneity of the support of the common public or the gravity of the arrest of a mass leader and that too the Chief Minister doesn't feel that much. Why it is so? Because, people are tuned to the fact that politicians means there will be involvement of corruption, nepotism, favors, giving hard hitting speech to baffle the audience and all these are carried out to divert the attention of the public from the various facets of crisis in life, inflation, price rise and many other social constraints and somehow or the rather remain in power. The more the time they cling to the coveted posts of ministries and governmental positions, the more they become hungry for power, wealth and fame. And, at the end, they become so adamant that they do not bother to follow any rules, regulations, policies and moral values, which they often teach to their party members, cadres and common public through personal interaction, campaigns or through the media. Perhaps, this dilatory tactic only makes their skin, thick and their tolerance power increases so much that they become shameless and fearless.

The effect of this high profile arrest will slow the work and decision making process in the government and this process will continue to remain, because she will try to run the government from the jail through his trusted party members and ministers on her whims and wishes only. Ultimately, this languishing will affect the interest of the common man.  The Redressal of the grievance of this arrest or the appeal, therefore how far will be justified, the future will only tell, but there is no point blaming the judge or the judiciary system, saying that malafide intention is the basic purpose to arrest her. Her party members are also accusing the judiciary system with a complaint that the judge, in question, is only interested to malign her with the allegation of disproportionate assets.  The section of the people who are describing this act of arrest is an act of irresponsible verdict, they are completely wrong and they are only the supporters of the scam, wrongdoings and corruption.  No doubt, you can love your leader, support her and accept her decisions right or wrong, but you cannot defend her corruption or malafide motives to amass wealth.  This wealth is nothing, but the hard earned money of the common people.

Now, why our politicians are shameless or fearless?  Firstly, they know that our proletariats are mostly busy with their own concerns of food, shelter and cloth. When this type of idiosyncrasies occurs, either they condemn or keep quiet; they do not bother to raise their voice against the ruling party to invite their wrath.  The party cadres, leaders and supporters, always put a protest without knowing what they are doing.  Otherwise, what is the purpose of this type of hullabaloo when the verdict is very clear and documentary evidences are supporting the fact of her prosecution? The politicians are very astute and they know that their supporters, their leaders and the cadres will definitely dilute the issues once the hue and cry of the situation, is stabilized.  Secondly, they know that even though they will be debarred from the coveted position of MPs or MLAs, there will be a chance of a comeback after a defined period of time.  In this period, they can even rule the state, Panchayat or even municipality, through their trusted lieutenants or family members or puppet in their hands.

Under these circumstances, the corrupted politicians know that no verdict can curb their power except for a limited time frame; at the most, they may have to face a sordid state of affairs.  Either way, Jayalalitha will be getting released from the jail today or tomorrow. S Why she will be shameful or afraid of anybody?