UP Assembly thugs: How Akhilesh has broken his promise

It always amazes me as to how party spokespersons sometimes come on air, talk complete nonsense and appear to be mighty pleased while doling out the aforementioned double-distilled balderdash. [caption id=“attachment_357150” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“Akhilesh Yadav may have promised to root our criminals from his party but are there really any signs of it? PTI”]  [/caption] Take Kamal Farooqi for instance. Ever since **_Akhilesh Yadav has taken office_** (with lofty promises about not tolerating criminals within his party), this gentleman has been coming on air trying to defend the lumpen elements in his party, beseeching us to give the young CM some time to “settle down”. You may have seen this farce play out half a dozen times in the last 3 months. Mere facts do not appear to faze ‘n frazzle him – and footage showing SP MLAs converting jail premises into club lounges (mujra inside jail premises?) and recording studios, and zipping off in private SUVs from the jail to the local hospital (not for treatment though; hospitals double up as platforms where politicians hold junta ka durbaars) are dismissed as non-events at worse, or events that will be “looked into by the concerned authorities”, at best. Kiran Bedi has gone on record, calling this kind of behavior by the jailbirds as an “open challenge to the Indian criminal justice system”. What Indian criminal justice system is she talking about? Does such a thing even exist for people from the political establishment? Jailbirds turn to bail-birds and life moves on. The more things change, the more they remain the same. As a logical extension of the 4-part series I did last month , wherein I attempted to shine some light on the questionable credentials that 25-30% of our MPs boast of on their CVs, I now turn my attention to the state Legislative Assemblies. Covering every single state will take me forever; hence in this 4-part series, I will take up one representative state assembly each (by region - north, west, south, east), and focus on the extent of criminalization and the educational qualifications (or the lack thereof)  of the respectable denizens who occupy these temples of democracy. The disclaimers and declarations pertaining to the sources of data and information remain as stated in the last series **(** see here ), with the additional point that the key data sources rely on affidavits filed by the contestants at the time of the respective assembly elections. Without wasting your time with long drawn narratives, let me dive straight into the U.P State Legislative Assembly, in the hope that what I come up with is more heart-warming than a superlative lump of foul-smelling grime-ball from the bottom of a respectable cesspool.  (How on earth do these thugs get tickets to contest for elections? One can’t even get a job with these kind of criminal antecedents…).  (Akhilesh Yadav needs all our love, understanding, empathy and sympathy – BJP and the Independents have more rowdies as a % than SP!!)  (Words fail me – the facts are scary enough without me trying to add my two bits to it)  (SP has the worst record on this front….35% of their MLAs had NEVER filed an ITR)  (While it is true that education does not equal knowledge and wisdom, it would help a tad if the people dictating the future of an entire state and its citizens, were not such an outstanding lot!)  (Club this with the data on crime, tax evasion etc., and then layer upon it the fact that we have had zilch Electoral Reforms; who in his/her right mind would want to fight an election? A level playing field is what is needed…..but those with the most to lose by such a leveling, unfortunately, lord over such key decisions and bills pertaining to meaningful Electoral Reforms) So then….did I come up with something more superlatively heart-warming than a detestable grime-ball? Why do I even bother diving into these pools? Reflexive urge, I guess. Like a child who insists on repeatedly touching a raw, painful wound…could the pleasure be in the pain? Well, if masochism helps in putting the facts out there, so be it. Later this week, I will wade through a legislative assembly from Western India. (shining.path.notperu@gmail.com)