M A I L B A G

Why tainted ministers must go

Apropos of H.K. Dua’s article “Criminals in the House: The danger is collective, so is the solution” (June 12), if a man is to be known by the company he keeps, then Dr Manmohan Singh will have to get rid of the “tainted men” from his ministry. Otherwise, his own integrity will be at stake.

Persons charged with heinous crimes should not be allowed to occupy high offices. Alliance partners asking ministerial berths for such persons should be told to see reason through persuasion and continued negotiations. Nothing is impossible.

S.K. GARG, Mohali

II

I fail to understand why criminals and tainted people are allowed to enter Parliament and State Assemblies. An ordinary applicant is first thoroughly grilled and scanned by Public Service Commissions before recommending his name for the post. Thereafter, police officials are deputed to verify his antecedents. If there is anything amiss, his appointment is straightaway withheld. The same procedure is gone through during promotions. If a person with a shady background cannot be selected for any public or private job, why so much relaxation for politicians?

In other countries, the leaders resign the moment charges are framed against them. Watergate and Profumo cases are still fresh in memory. If the passport of a person is confiscated as soon as he is convicted of a crime, why not in the case of criminal-turned-politicians? The nomination papers of tainted persons should be outrightly rejected by the Election Commission.

D.K. AGGARWALA, Hoshiarpur

III

I endorse the view that criminals are criminals whether they are secular or communal. But they are not spreading their tentacles in UP and Bihar only but are operating in whole South Asia by manipulating codes of credit and debit cards used by tourists. Thus, criminalised politics has become a global phenomenon. It originates at the grassroots level where local representatives, patronaged by the state leaders, are involved in murder, rape corruption and other cases.

Neither any echelon of governance nor political party remained untouched from the clutches of criminals. They run parallel governance as reported by the Vohra Committee. Their influence in policy-making and administration has acquired a dubious distinction. Sometimes it becomes difficult for one to differentiate between politicians and criminals.

They even take advantage of established jurisprudence where a big hiatus exists between accusation and conviction because the cases are trapped in appeal, review and revision by judicial authorities. Hence, not they but the common man becomes the victim. Consequently, only radical electoral and judicial reforms can ensure a fair and fear-free environment.

Dr RAJ KUMAR SIWACH, Karnal

IV

Cases involving murder, rape, forgery, extortion and so on continue in the courts for years together. As a result, a history-sheeter or a criminal, unless convicted by a court of law, is considered innocent. Cannot the Chief Justice of India instruct such courts to decide the cases within a stipulated period? Mrs Sonia Gandhi’s conscience did not allow her to occupy the post of Prime Minister. Can’t she direct the Prime Minister not to induct or drop tainted MPs as Ministers? Political compulsions could never deter her or him from treating the righteous path.

SHYAM SUNDER AIRI, Rupowal (Hoshiarpur)

V

Our courts and the Election Commission, in the absence of stringent laws, are helpless to tackle the criminals in politics. Our laws need to possess ample teeth to dissuade the criminals’ entry to Parliament and state legislatures. Electoral reforms are the need of the day. Only then can the courts freely check criminals in politics. A vibrant democracy needs these reforms as much.

IQBAL SINGH, Bijhari (HP)

VI

Criminalisation of politics has tarnished the image of Parliament. The presence of criminals in the House shows the abysmal standards of the Indian polity. Debates and discussions are bound to get violent and directionless when we have bandits, goons and desperados as members.

Our MPs should know that staging walkouts, boycotting the House and shouting will not help. The people expect a lot from them as we give them the right to speak for us. We want to see the criminals in jails, not in Parliament.

DEEPKARAN SINGH, Chandigarh

VII

H.K. Dua has rightly criticised the unpredictable attitude of the Opposition led by the NDA. It showed a small mercy by listening to the President’s address and then got it adjourned sine die without discussing a single point or policy of the new government.

JANAK RAJ ARORA, Chandigarh

Change for the better The editorial “Murder in custody” (June 11) rightly highlights the urgent need for changing the century-old mindset of the police. This problem is not confined to Punjab but to many other states. As regards the working of the jails, the less said the better. Jailbreaks and custodial deaths have become common. Recent happenings in Punjab, Chandigarh and elsewhere have made the issue more crucial. Besides outside pressures, irresponsibility and dereliction of the duty on the part of police and jail authorities cannot be ruled out. Despite various laws and judicial pronouncements, such incidents are occurring frequently. Something is wrong with the present system which needs overhauling. The Union Home Ministry should constitute a committee of experts headed by a seasoned police officer like Dr Kiran Bedi to consider these matters threadbare and come out with specific solutions to avoid such incidents in future. SONU MEHMI, Centre for Political Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi