Politics has become profession of power & money, rues ex-Solicitor General Justice Santosh Hegde

economictimes.indiatimes.com:

power and money, and ceased to be a service, former Solicitor General of India Justice N Santosh Hegde rued on the country's independence day. Speaking to PTI here, the retired Judge of the Supreme Court also said there should an all out effort to inculcate two social values — contentment and humanism — so that there could be solidarity and peace in the society. Before independence many in the country fought against foreign rule and for independence without any monetary gain; it was because of their love for the country, it was a sacrifice, he recalled.

After independence people joined politics as a service to the nation and for a few decades elected representatives had no salary. Only their actual expenses were paid, the former Karnataka Lokayukta pointed out. The role of an elected representative was only to attend the proceedings of their elected bodies like the Parliament or State Assemblies.

The elected bodies' proceedings were for a period of 100 days in a year and their role was to make laws and policies. There was no educational qualification required to become an elected representative and they had no role in administration. Hence, they had to find other legitimate sources for their survival.

But in the last 50 years, whole structure of administration has changed. The Executive, who under the Constitution were entrusted with the administration have been made subservient to the elected representatives. Consequently today, in reality, the elected representatives have become the masters of administration, which today entrusts so much power on them, he noted.