Madurai, Nov14: Former Judge Rajindar Sachar
expressed serious concern about spurt in number of criminals
entering politics in the country, and becoming MPs and
Legislators.
He was talking on "Human Rights in Today`s context"
at a meeting organised by the People`s Union for Civil
Liberties (PUCL) in Madurai on Thursday evening.
He said a good number of Parliamentarians had criminal
background. "It is not criminalisation of politics, but
politicisation of Criminals". The criminals thought that
politics was a lucrative profession, and were entering it
directly instead of acting as henchmen of political leaders, as
was done in the past years, he said.
Supporting the move for a legislation to debar people
facing criminal cases from contesting in elections, he said
PUCL played a crucial role in introducing the present practice
of contestants disclosing their assets and involvement in
criminal cases, if any.
The divide between the rich and the poor resulted in
communal and caste clashes. The government and the media also
cared only about the upper class, he said.
Instead of speaking about thousands of workers who had
lost their jobs in the recent economic crisis, the media talked
about economic crisis and stock market slump. Both Human rights
and economic rights are important, he said.
Bureau Report
