Chief Ministers Behind the Bar: An Escalating Trend in Indian Politics

With ED probes on the chief ministers of different states and their consequent arrests, making news raises a serious question as to what the Indian political landscape is heading to. Although there have been cases of chief ministers being arrested in the past too, the recent arrests of the Jharkhand CM and the Delhi CM point towards a sudden escalation in such practices. It is important to note that Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren resigned from his post just before his arrest pertaining to the previous intimidations he had received regarding the arrest, while Arvind Kejriwal chose not to do so. He has been running for office even after his arrest. With this move of his, he became the first sitting chief minister arrested while in office.

The arrest of chief ministers is not a very new concept in the context of India; there has been a long list of chief ministers being arrested in the past too. Lalu Prasad Yadav, Om Prakash Chautala, J. Jayalalitha, Chandrashekhar, Chandrababu Naidu, Shibu Soren, Uma Bharti, and BS Yediyurappa are a few to name.

Lalu Prasad Yadav was arrested over a fodder scam in 2013 along with former chief minister of Bihar Jagannath Mishra. The Patriarch of the Rashtriya Janta Dal and the two-times serving chief minister of Bihar, Lalu Prasad Yadav, were sentenced to five years imprisonment by the special CBI court probing the fodder scam.

Om Prakash Chautala: This former Haryana Chief Minister with multiple tenures between 1989 and 2005 was found to have been involved in a corruption scam relating to the recruitment of teachers. Several discrepancies and irregularities were found in the selection procedure, for which he was imprisoned for a span of 10 years in 2013. In another case that followed, he was again imprisoned for a duration of 4 years in 2022. This case was regarding the holding of disproportionate assets.

Jayalalitha: The late former chief minister of Tamil Nadu, J. Jayalalitha, faced a high-profile corruption case in which she was convicted along with four others. She was put behind bars for four years under the special imprisonment in the prevention of corruption act and was levied a heavy fine of 100 crores, which would be set off against the confiscated properties.

Chandra Babu Naidu: The former chief minister of Andhra Pradesh, Chandrababu Naidu, who also happens to be the leader of the TDP, was arrested over allegations of misappropriating funds from the Skill Development Corporation. It is said to have been found that the alleged misappropriation of the funds has caused a loss of over 300 crores to the state treasury.

Madhu Koda, who happened to be the chief minister of Jharkhand between 2006 and 2008, was arrested in 2009 in a mining scam. He was allegedly found to have procured about 2,000 crores through illegal bribing over mining contracts.

Shibu Soren, a former Jharkhand Chief Minister who is also the father of another former Chief Minister of Jharkhand, Hemant Soren, was arrested on charges of alleged abduction and murder of his private secretary, Shashi Nath Jha. He was acquitted by the Delhi High Court in August 2007. Further, the Delhi High Court verdict was upheld by the Supreme Court, which sentenced Shibu Soren to life imprisonment.

Uma Bharti: This former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister was arrested in August 2004, after only a year in office, in regards to her connection with the 1994 Hubli riots. By this time, she had completed just a year of her tenure. The arrest warrant issued against her laid constraints upon her to file for her resignation.

BS Yediyurappa: Former Karnataka CM Yediyurappa was arrested on charges of corruption for illegally denitrifying land in and around Bangalore. He served as the chief minister of the state for four terms in 2007, 2008, 2018, and 2019.

Though the list of past arrests is also long, the current arrests are way more concerning given the democratic upheaval these arrests have created. It’s been about 74 long years since India became a sovereign-democratic republic, yet such incidents being a ‘nothing-new’ lays serious doubts on the strength of our democratic setup. Citizens, the actual stakeholders of the democracy, cast their precious votes. Tonnes and tonnes of money are spent on elections for choosing these leaders, and all that goes in kind of vain with such happenings. After all, how are we to expect upliftment of the states from leaders themselves dwindling in charges of scams and corruption?

However, like every coin has two faces, these arrests too have two faces. In fact, since it’s a game of politics, who knows? It may have possibly had even more than two.

After all, politicians with a clean kurta are an absolute rarity in India. Be it the opposition or the ruling government, clean kurta is an illusion every side is trying to create. Besides, they are all busy staining the Kurtas of one another. Amidst all of these, it is tough to actually choose ones with clean kurtas and distinguish between ones whose kurta is being consciously maligned by the opponents and cut off ones with already dirty kurtas impersonating to be a clean kurta politician.

Team Profile

Sahanubhuti KrishnanContent Editor

Sahanubhuti Krishnan is a dedicated student of Journalism at Delhi School of Journalism, University of Delhi. With a strong passion for political, economic, and social journalism, Sahanubhuti aims to explore and shed light on the important issues shaping our society. Equipped with a desire to inform and engage the public, Sahanubhuti seeks to develop their skills in researching, reporting, and storytelling to create impactful narratives that resonate with readers. Through their studies, Sahanubhuti strives to gain a comprehensive understanding of the complexities within the realms of politics, economics, and social dynamics, with the ultimate goal of making a meaningful contribution to the field of journalism. With a commitment to upholding ethical standards and a drive to create positive change, Sahanubhuti Krishnan is poised to make a mark in the world of journalism.

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