The Best Job in the Country

The best job for anyone obviously would be the one they love, but here am going to talk about one of the most popular and, at some level, even the most sought after career option of our country—Politics.

It is best in my opinion because of the power it wields and obviously the money return. A politician in our nation can get away doing anything, anything at all just by the imposing his ‘seat’s’ power on others. Their relatives too can do anything because, and I still don’t know how, they seem to have earned a share of the power themselves!

Well, the power part, everyone knows about but the money in this line of profession is, and it would be modest to use this word, ridonkulous! On an average a re-elected electoral candidate has tripled his wealth between the last two elections (5 years). According to Association for Democratic Reforms (ADF), of the 1370 re-elected MLAs and 200 MPs, the average income and assets of the 100 richest legislators grew by a mind-boggling 745%, between two elections (2007 & 2012)! The hike in this category ranges from 2 to 25 times, that’s 200% to 2500%. WOW!

For example, the assets of Rajesh Shukla, a BJP MLA, has grown almost a freaking 2900%, from 87 lakhs to 26 crores. Subhash Pasi, an SP legislator’s, assets grew from 4.7 crores to 35 crores. Assets of Balvantish Chandansinh Rajput grew from 34 to 268 crores! And that of one Laxmikant Parsekar grew from 1.2 crores to 10 crores. The list goes on and on.

If this doesn’t seem to make an impact, I’ll give you something to compare with that data—The salary of CEOs of India’s top 87 multi-national companies increased by 60-80% over the said period of time. 60-80% compared with 200-2500%, it doesn’t take a genius to figure out which one’s better. These facts are troubling but very much true. But we all know how these politicians earn money. We have Kalmadi, Raja, the Coalgate, the 2G scam and lord only knows how much money is stashed in the famed Swiss bank.

It’s time to ask yourself where did you wrong in electing the candidates; the candidates who are supposed to serve you , the public servants, are the ones stealing from public and getting away with it. Yes, some of them have been punished, Mr. Lalu Prasad being the latest, but what about the others who go unchecked? If we should blame anyone, it’s ourselves. We are the ones giving power to people who don’t deserve it. We make the government, not the other way around. Realise that, and half the problem’s solved.