Onus on parliament to decriminalise politics; chargesheet not enough to ban netas, says SC

A few months ago, the former South Korean President was sentenced to 24 years in jail for corruption. In Indonesia, it is now illegal to criticise criminal politicians. Former Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez was accused of looting millions in oil earnings. So it's not an India specific problem, but that does not dilute our fight. In September 2013, Rahul Gandhi came to a press conference to both literally and metaphorically tear up an UPA ordinance that would have protected convicted netas from an electoral bar. That meant party ally Lalu was kicked out of parliament and is facing years of bans. Jaya loyalist Sasikala today is in jail, barred from contesting for 10 years. But in a slow system of justice, with many rounds of appeal, what do we do with chargesheeted netas? That was the question before the Supreme Court today. The court said it's up to parliament to decide. The netas on their part point to several MPs slapped with frivolous charges like disrupting traffic and the potentially a bar on chargesheeted netas in a polticaldom full of fake cases would be in fact unfair and counterproductive. Yet 98 of BJP MPs, 8 cong MPs. Almost all the Shiv Sena MPs and 7 TMC MPs are facing charges, from the very serious to the troubling. How do we get them out of the system? One democratic argument is people should vote them out? But in many cases the politicians are local goondas, in others, many of us simply vote for the party without really examining who the candidate is. We have a greater role, but so do political parties in not giving them tickets and parliament in legislating more stringent and actionable codes. A cleaner political system is a better country; a better country can serve its people better. How do we get one step closer is the question tonight.