Politics of hate and crime

Hate and crime seem to have been one of the features of Indian politics since decades now. But this time, Varun Gandhi incident has brought it out in the open. Let's have a look at the tainted sheet in this election. The communalists and the criminals.

Communists and Congress in Kerala are both lining up at the same place. And the place belongs to Madani, the known communalist and one booked for number of terror cases. In fact just recently he and his wife have been under scanner for the 4 terrorists found in Kashmir and originally from Kerala. But when it's election time, secularism is better kept for TV studios and all so called secular parties are courting Madani to swing Muslim votes in their favour. While a young Varun get's clobbered all around, the senior Communist and Congress leaders praising Madani and hailing him are allowed to go scotfree.
What's the difference between Varun Gandhi and Jagdish Tytler / Sajjan Kumar? Just one. While Varun said the hate words, the other 2 went one step further and did so in action. They burnt and massacred Sikhs in calculated cold blooded manner.
The Church in Kerala too seems to be eager to stir this pot of hatred. So throwing their preaching of 'tolerance' to the winds, they have jumped in the fray, spreading hatred against both BJP and Communists and courting Congress. And they say one of the tenets of Secularism is that religion and politics have to be kept seperate.
Sanjay Dutt, Mukhtar Ansari, Ateeq Ahmed, Mohd Shahabuddin, Taslimuddin, Pappu Yadav... long list of those convicted of serious crimes and still in the fray or looking to get their spouses elected. Infact Taslimuddin, charged of serious cases like rape, murder, kidnapping was just inches away from being sworn in the last UPA government as a minister.
What about those who have spread venom on issues of caste and language? If one talks about caste venom, one has to see Mayawati, Mulayam Singh Yadav, Laloo Yadav, Ram Vilas Paswan, Sachin Pilot who have used caste hatred and violence to reach the top echelons. What about the Thackerays, the Karunanidhis who are so jingoistic on their langauge that for them the country starts and ends with their states.
Then we have people like Omar Abdullah who unfortunately are applauded for the most divisive speech in Parliament. If Raj Thackeray says Maharashtra is their land and they won't let anyone step on it, it is called hate speech. But when Omar Abdullah says land for Amarnath is their land and they will fight for it with blood, it suddenly becomes a speech to be appluaded. Just becase it came from a Muslim leader? Or just because it suits for Indian politics to be anti-majority?

If EC wants to make the Indian politics hate and crime free, it has to act strongly and in an unbiased manner against all those accused of these acts. The EC can ill-afford a partisan approach because bias always leads to polarisation.