Bloody Finale
In life, Phoolan Devi combined the brutal underbelly of India with political fame and glamour. Gunned down in Delhi, her death could become the occasion for a new round of caste conflict in Uttar Pradesh. Phoolan
is being reinvented posthumously.
A report.

Rule Of Outlaw
Dons and politicians enjoy a symbiotic relationship in Uttar Pradesh.

Back To The Trenches
Determined not to let up on its Kashmir-centric agenda, Pakistan has stepped up violence in the Valley. Indian security forces gear up to deal with the situation.

Revenge Of Badla People who lent money to stockbrokers for financing speculators through the badla system find themselves at the receiving end of yet another scam. And with little evidence to nail the accused, chances of recovery are dim.

The Peacenik
S.B. Deuba's rapport with the Maoists helped him become prime minister. Now he has to deal with their radical demands about the monarchy and secularism.

COVER STORY: CRIME IN POLITICS

Rule Of Outlaw

Dons and politicians enjoy a symbiotic relationship in Uttar Pradesh

By Subhash Mishra and Sharad Gupta

Political power has flowed from the barrel of the gun in Uttar Pradesh for decades. It is a state where crime and politics share a symbiotic relationship, feeding each other and flourishing. Bandits and criminals have either helped canvass support for politicians or have themselves jumped into the electoral fray. Police files are a veritable who's who of the state's polity, with 129 MLAs, 13 MPs and 19 ministers in Uttar Pradesh having criminal records.

Long before Phoolan Devi entered Parliament, the BJP had fielded another reformed dacoit in the 1991 elections to the state Assembly. Tehsildar Singh was pitched against outgoing chief minister Mulayam Singh Yadav in Jaswantnagar in Etawah district. Tehsildar had been convicted in five murder cases and scores of dacoities. His death sentence had been commuted by the President in 1969 after a mass surrender by dacoits before Acharya Vinoba Bhave. Released from jail in 1972, he helped Jaya Prakash Narayan secure the surrender of 500 dreaded dacoits, including Madho Singh, Mohar Singh and Nathu Singh, each of whom carried a reward of Rs 1.5 lakh on his head.

Other parties too have fielded former dacoits. The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) put up a surrendered dacoit Ramsevak Patel, who had laid down arms before the Madhya Pradesh police in 1988, from Bara in Allahabad district in 1989. In 1996, the BSP fielded Hari Prasad alias Ghamri Kharwar from Robertsganj adjoining Mirzapur. The Samajwadi Party (SP) nominated dreaded mafia don Arun Shankar Shukla, alias Anna, as its candidate from Lucknow. Though Tehsildar, Anna and Patel failed to get the people's mandate, Patel managed to enter the Assembly in 1991.

Many "practising" criminals have also managed to stand in elections. While the SP fielded the likes of Madan Bhaiya and Durga Prasad Yadav and Uma Kant Yadav in the 1996 assembly polls, the BSP supported Shiv Raj Singh and Nafees Ansari. Mukhtar Ansari, an MLA who figures in several cases, was a member of the party till he was expelled recently. The rogue's gallery of the BJP included Ram Sevak Singh and T.P. Shukla. There were independents too, with the gangster Babloo Srivastava contesting the assembly elections from within the confines of the Lucknow Jail.

Even in Madhya Pradesh, former dacoits have taken part in election campaigns. Malkhan Singh and Madho hold senior Congress leader Arjun Singh in high esteem since he was instrumental in "reforming" them. Both actively campaigned for candidates of the breakaway Tiwari faction in Bhind after Arjun and N.D. Tiwari broke from the Congress to form a separate party in 1996. Mohar, on the other hand, canvassed support for BJP candidate Ram Lakhan Singh. The former dacoit also contested a nagar palika election in 1995 from Mehgaon town in Bhind and won.

That these reformed bandits did not campaign out of gratitude is clear from the selective manner in which Malkhan showed his indebtedness to his reformers. He campaigned for Congress (T) candidate Rajesh Singh Bhadauria in Bhind though Deepa Chaturvedi, wife of former Gwalior superintendent of police Rajendra Chaturvedi, the police officer who helped him come out of the ravines, was also in the fray as an independent.

It is easy to see why political parties field candidates with a criminal past. Brigands and mafia dons command a sizeable following among their clansmen and politicians are quick to seize this opportunity for electoral gains. The caste card is unabashedly played to drum up support and muscle power comes in handy when a booth has to be captured. Or when a political rival has to be
bumped off.

On July 16, members of the notorious Brijesh Singh gang ambushed Ansari's car in Ghazipur district. Ansari escaped but four others were killed in the exchange of fire. Investigations revealed that Brijesh had been hired by a former chief minister to eliminate Ansari. The mafia don, who wields considerable support among the Thakur community in eastern Uttar Pradesh, had been promised a ticket in the forthcoming elections if he succeeded.

Shockingly, a senior police official reveals that several ruling party members, including a minister of state, an MP, an MLA and two MLCs, had even offered to shield Brijesh from the police "in case something went wrong". Chief Minister Rajnath Singh told India Today that he had asked for more details about the shoot-out before he ordered a CBI inquiry into the involvement of politicians. "I assure you that no one involved in the shoot-out would be spared, not even if he is my son," Rajnath said.

What is worrying, however, is not the inability of the Government to check this unholy nexus between crime and politicians but its unwillingness to do so. Most of the ministers in Rajnath's Cabinet who have criminal charges pending against them continue their underworld activities even as the Government looks on. When Sports and Youth Welfare Minister Raja Raghuraj Pratap Singh convened what has been dubbed a mafia panchayat in his office in the state secretariat, Rajnath chose to look other way. Institutional Finance Minister Amarmani Tripathi was involved in land grabbing but the Government could do nothing. A Special Task Force report which confirmed that nine BJP ministers had links with slain gangster Shri Prakash Shukla has been swept under the carpet.

The police apprehends that the problem will only become more pronounced in the run-up to the forthcoming assembly elections. A confidential report prepared by the police during Kalyan Singh's tenure says there are 744 mafia gangs operating in Uttar Pradesh. Worse, it reveals that more than 700 police personnel, including three IPS officers, are hand in glove with these criminals. Clearly, what may be termed a crime in any other part of the country is just a way of life in Uttar Pradesh.

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