Political parties must weed out criminal elements like Ravindra Gaikwad
The TV channels these days are having a good time telecasting the antics of Shiv Sena lawmaker Ravindra Gaikwad from Maharashtra, whose latest claim to notoriety is his brave (sic) effort of hitting a 60-year-old Air India staffer on March 23, 2017, with slippers.
The brazenness of the Member of Parliament is to be seen to be believed. He openly boasted that he beat up the staffer with his slipper 25 times. He is not sorry and wouldn’t apologise. Rather, he wants an apology from the staffer.
Air India has filed an FIR over the incident and the lawmaker has dared the Delhi Police to arrest him. The Delhi Police has done none of that so far.
All airlines have jointly decided to debar the MP from travelling on their carriers and he had to take a train to Pune after his ticket on Air India and Indigo flights were cancelled. The lawmaker in response is believed to have asked, what if Air India is banned?
His party, in what looks like a half-hearted measure to rein in the lawmaker, has asked him to explain his conduct. However, public utterances of Shiv Sena leaders appear to be justifying his action and want Air India to introspect as to why the MP was pushed to such an angry act.
According to reports published in Deccan Chronicle on March 25, Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut is supposed to have said that “party leaders would raise their hand whenever needed”.
According to several reports, it transpires that Gaikwad is a repeat offender. He is reported to be facing over a dozen charges under various sections of IPC, including culpable homicide not amounting to murder, rioting armed with deadly weapon, wrongful restraint, assault and use of criminal force, etc.
He was also said to be at the centre of a row in 2014 in which he, along with other MPs from the Shiv Sena, was alleged to have force-fed a Muslim caterer (while he was fasting during Ramzan) at Maharashtra Sadan in Delhi.
The Speaker of the Lok Sabha has promised to look into the matter, however, the minister of state for law has indirectly condemned the airlines’ act of debarring the MP from flying as illegal because there is no law to support such action.
A video of the incident telecast on news channels shows an air hostess telling the MP that it is the public which had reposed faith in him by electing him to Parliament and his behaviour should have been more restrained.
In fact, this is the crux of the matter. Most legislatives these days think of themselves as rulers rather than public servants. Most have no concern for the public once they are elected. That is the reason behind such pitiable condition of development in our country. They spend large amounts of money in getting elected and focus on recovering it. The muscle power that they deploy for votes also has to be patronised.
Many legislatives treat their status as MPs or MLAs to browbeat public servants and the general public. Scenes of MPs/MLAs or their supporters causing disturbance at toll booths, beating up co-passengers or generally throwing their weight around are commonplace. They seem to believe that everything for them is free.
I remember an incident during the previous NDA government, when a prominent MP had to be made to pay for stay in a five-star hotel for private purpose upon intervention of then home minister.
According to a report published in The Times of India on May 18, 2014, one third of MPs in the current Parliament have criminal records. This is the highest ever so far. It is also a pointer in the direction our politics is taking. It is a common feeling that no person with a clean image can fight and win elections.
Political parties have their votebank compulsions in patronising persons of dubious reputation. The recent elections saw a registered criminal being wooed frantically by a political party because he belonged to a minority community and it was felt that he would be able to swing their votes in its favour.
In fact, all political parties are guilty of patronising such elements, especially at a time of elections when they woo them and engineer defections to bolster their prospects.
The fact that he could not help in achieving the aim of that party should make all political parties ponder about the effectiveness of such a shortsighted strategy. It is time that political parties put their heads together to find ways to weed out criminal elements from the polity, failing which India will fast move towards becoming a banana republic.
To end the piece, I can’t resist quoting a WhatsApp forward that I received which, roughly translated, states: “Public wants to know that if a parliamentarian can hit with slippers upon being dissatisfied with services, can the public hit the parliamentarian with slippers if dissatisfied with his work?”