Criminalization of Politics

There is enough documentary evidence about the nexus between politicians and criminals in India. Here are just two excerpts that provide the relevant statistics.

The site Corruption in India notes: “Criminalization of Indian politics is a major setback as well as a serious problem. In July 2008 The Washington Post reported that nearly a fourth of the 540 Indian Parliament members faced criminal charges, "including human trafficking, immigration rackets, embezzlement, rape and even murder". An international watchdog conducted a study on the illicit flight of money from India, perhaps the first ever attempt at shedding light on a subject steeped in secrecy, concludes that India has been drained of $462 billion (over Rs 20 lakh crore) between 1948 and 2008. The amount is nearly 40% of India's gross domestic product.”

According to the site Corruption Free India "Around 300 present MPs are known to be Crorepatis (multi-millionaires), giving rise to the feeling that in near future, being a millionaire might become a pre-requisite for the job. However the most serious problem of them all is the twin issue of increasing Criminalization of Politics and the lack of good people joining politics."