It surprises me that it continues to surprise us every time one of our elected representatives is caught indulging in criminal activity. We reacted with the usual shock and horror last week when the honourable MP from Dahod, Gujarat, Babubhai Katara of the BJP, was caught trafficking in humans. He tried smuggling a woman out on his wife’s passport and after he was arrested the police discovered that he was a serial offender and probably part of a trafficking syndicate.

So? What’s the big deal? Human trafficking is a white-collar crime, compared to murder, rape, armed robbery and kidnapping, and we know that across our unfortunate land we are increasingly being forced to elect people who have been charged with one or the other of these crimes.

Often, the choice that Indian voters face is between two criminals, and in such situations, they usually select the better criminal, as a wise old man once explained to me in D.P. Yadav’s constituency. During an earlier election in Uttar Pradesh, I stopped at a teashop in Yadav’s constituency to ask why people voted for a man infamous for his illicit activities and the old man said, “Because the man who is standing against him is also a criminal, so we may as well vote for a stronger and better criminal.”

Yadav’s son Vikas went on to be implicated in the murders of Jessica Lall and Nitish Katara and continues to take so active an interest in politics that he wants to contest the election from his jail cell. He is not D.P. Yadav’s only heir in our unique system of hereditary democracy. The mother of Vikas has abandoned hearth and home for “public service” and is contesting in the UP elections along with other relatives of Big Daddy Yadav.

... contd.