Second national liberation and appetite for legitimate

J P Narayan has put it in a very nice way to see the politicians and business making:

• “From time immemorial, politics and business have been inextricably linked. Clean politics needs clean money. Good and sustainable business needs political support.
• Wise and mature statesmen always accepted money from business, but kept policymaking and governance beyond its reach. Gandhiji accepted business support, but evolved strategies for national liberation. Patel declined large contributions when there was a hint of seeking favour. Jimmy Carter put all his personal wealth in a blind trust so that his private interests would not influence his public policy, and emerged out of White House as a pauper who lost all his assets.
• In India, politicians have developed an inexhaustible appetite for illegitimate funds. With increasing disconnect between politics and people, voluntarism is dead, and mercenaries have to be hired even for simple political activities. With vote disconnected from outcomes and public good, the voter has to be persuaded with money, liquor and other inducements. The first-past-the-post electoral system — where marginal vote is all-important for determining victory — exacerbated vote buying. In Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, an expenditure of Rs 5 crore for an Assembly candidate is quite common.”