Lalu's conviction gives a glimmer of hope: Lok Satta chief

Says corruption can be reduced if 10 top politicians, officials convicted in every state; their properties confiscated

Lok Satta Party national president, Jayaprakash Narayan, said the conviction of Rashtriya Janata Dal president and former Bihar chief minister, Lalu Prasad Yadav, by a CBI court gave some hope that the corrupt would be punished at long last.

“If 10 top politicians and officials are convicted in every state and their properties confiscated, we can reduce corruption”, Narayan said in a press release here on Monday.

According to Narayan, Prasad's case exposes the political crisis in India. Though a product of the anti-corruption struggle and the Emergency, Prasad became a part of what is wrong.  As Prasad realised that ethical conduct and political power are unrelated to each other, he became a cynical practitioner of all unseemly methods in power politics – caste mobilisation, sectarianism, patronage, corruption, polarisation, short-term populism and criminalisation.

“We need a system that makes honest, competent, committed persons electable. Right now they are a liability. Ethical and rational politicians should be seen as assets in a sensible system.  We need the proportional representation system to change politics, and allow the entry and success of clean, rational and competent citizens in politics,” the Lok Satta chief emphasised.