"The end of a man is action and not thought ". It is a simple law that governs man's life-"Do or die" by Carlyle admired Goethe. India is the holy land with a glorious past, home to diverse cultures and traditions, the dream of Gandhiji and Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru and the soil that has witnessed the birth and death of umpteem kingdoms. The incredible India has curved out a niche for herself in the galaxy of international affairs. Basking in the unique status of the "largest democracy in the world", we have traversed many a mile forward from that big day, when India woke to life and freedom, "at the stroke of the midnight hour, when the world slept". As we turn back, we realise how the waves of change have swept the shores of India.
Politics is something that Indians inherit as they inherit religion. It runs deep through the veins of the country and to seperate the two. As someone has remarked, so we breathe politics, eat politics and drink politics. 'Politics', 'elections', and 'votes' are mantras being chanted from every nook and corner of the country and have entered the vocabulary even of the 'aam aadmi'. For us, politics is not a seperate realm of public life. On the contrary, it has influenced all apheres of our life. After all, in a country run by democracy, politics knocks at every door.
But today, egoistic and blood-thirsty criminals wearing the mask of politicians are running the country and sucking its sap. Gone are the days when politics used to be the voice, resounding the woes of the unheard; and instrument for heralding refornm and development. The time has come to redefine 'politics'. It has turned out that politics is now a mere plateform for the corrupted and tainted criminals and politicians, where the general interest is sacrificed at the altar dream of Mahatma Gandhi, Father of the Nation-"Ram Raj"-has degenerated into a Jungle Raj-full of cruel, ferocious and wild politicians.
It seems that politics has become synonymous with crime. Does the combination sound like chalk and cheese? No way. Political criminalisation is rampant and any assessment of the state of democratic politics exposes the pervasiveness of criminality that permeates all levels of state.