29 MPs ill-treat their wives
7 have been arrested for fraud
19 have more than three criminal cases
117 have cases of murder, rape, extortion, and robbery
71 can?t get loans from any financial institution
21 have cases for various charges
84 Have paid fines in various cases Uttar Pradesh Vidhan Sabha Members
206 have cases filed against them
100 have serious cases filed against Bihar Vidhan Sabha Members
36 have cases filed against them
10 have serious cases filed against them Madhya Pradesh Vidhan Sabha members
First and foremost, India is a strong democracy. Not only is India the world’s largest democracy, but it is an increasingly stable one. It also arguably boasts the world’s largest Muslim population–more than 120 million–that is genuinely free; democracy in Turkey, for instance, is limited in comparison.
As its democracy has deepened, India has become, haltingly, a more decent society. Despite the epic violence of the past and the intermittent violence that continues to plague the country, “today’s India,” observes Ralph Peters in the U.S. Army War College journal Parameters, “is to a far greater degree, the story of the dog that didn’t bark, of the hundreds of millions of Hindus and Muslims (as well as those of other faiths) who do not kill each other and who, despite seductive prejudices, work together as Indians first, whether in the government, in the military, or in business.”
That might sound like faint praise, but when one considers the Islamic extremism that daily threatens the fragile order in Pakistan (or in Bangladesh), or India’s own bloody past, contemporary India does indeed seem a remarkably tolerant society. “Hindu fundamentalism,” while sporadically violent, has no Osama-like terrorist leader nor an al Qaeda-like network. Nor is it a rejection of modernity.
