Political outcasts

The recent Supreme Court judgement barring Bollywood actor Sanjay Dutt from contesting elections is a landmark in Indian electoral history. This seems to be the beginning of the end of the road for criminals who aspire to enter social life. The verdict will certainly strengthen the faith of people in the Indian judiciary and discourage political parties from fielding candidates with criminal backgrounds. Sanjay Dutt is an actor and all that he does on screen should not be considered his real self. It was his good acting in the Munna Bhai series that got him acclaim. But that doesn’t mean he can seek the people’s mandate by projecting himself as a great human being, as played out in his movies. If he feels that his acting should be kept in mind while granting him the liberty to contest elections, then why forget his flicks such as Khalnayak, where he acted as an anti-national criminal. One hopes his political mentor (Samajwadi Party’s Amar Singh) will some day see the logic of this, too. There have been reports of Sanjay’s alleged links with the underworld even while he was out on bail. His alleged conversations with members of the dreaded Mumbai mafia have been aired on various television news channels. This is not the first time that a political aspirant has been snubbed. The people of this country should refuse to be taken for granted. The illiterate majority is mature enough to realise that people convicted for criminal activities should no longer serve them. The best case in point is the crushing defeat of Jharkhand chief minister Shibu Soren, who tried to make it to the Lower House. Soren lost the election even though he had the entire state government machinery working for him. It is time the electorate showed the door to such people, no matter how big and powerful, and disallowed them from participating in the democratic process.