When people say knowledge is power, you are allowed to smile cynically!It is a well known fact that the Indian Parliament has a huge percentage of "leaders" with criminal records. As quoted in The campaign for No Criminals in Politics:
In 2004, about one in five MPs had criminal records, including some with charges of heinous crimes such as murder, rape, dacoity and kidnapping.These are the people in power bringing India into the 21st century! (-OR- is India developing in spite of them?). What's a little tax evasion compared to this?
Google just launched a website for the upcoming 2009 Indian elections, and if "knowledge is power", we have the power. Check out the details on each of the politicians contesting the elections. Check out the "Criminal Record" field for your favorite neta :-) my screenshot is for one of the most decorated of them - Lalu has featured at IIM, Harvard and Wharton as a turnaround king for the Indian Railways!
Obviously, a little "criminal record" isn't much of an embarrassment, let alone a barrier to entry! The question is - who has the real power? What does knowledge buy us?
How do you root criminals out of politics? If you did, who would turn the railways around?
2 comments:
That is discouraging to hear that such a high percentage of Indian MPs have a criminal record, what's the old saying "power corrupts and absolote power corrupts - absolutely" :)
Best, Simone Jones
Knowledge is NOT power. If India is anything like America, and I assume it is, MONEY is POWER. Sadly, money is a universal language that speaks loudly in any country.
An interesting parallel, however, politicians in India are also crooks!
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