Abu Salem, the fugitive don allegedly responsible for the 1993 Mumbai blast and a host of criminal underworld activities including murders, killings, extortion, channeling illegal money into the film production, forgery, fraud, match fixing and so forth was finally nabbed by the CBI. This India-born international gangster has reportedly been the right-hand man of Dawood Ibrahim, the chieftain of underworld operation, but later fell on with his mentor to be on his own. According to CBI an anonymous e-mail from an implausible identity nailed the don three years back in Portugal. But as per Portuguese law, request for handing over such persons with alleged criminal records is not entertained if any of the offences in question is punishable in the other country with death sentence or a sentence resulting in irreversible injuries to the person’s ‘integrity’. So the Indian government had to give an undertaking not to bind the Indian Courts not to impose death sentence on Salem and then got him and her girlfriend extradited to India.

Soon after his arrest media created a hype as if there has been a crackdown at the underworld den and bursting more criminal rackets would follow in no time. It was also indicated that spilling beans on Dawood Ibrahim and such other hard-core mega-criminals was in the offing.

How far can one confide in such propped up opinion? Everyone in India knows that these arch criminals operate a huge network of dubious activities throughout the world. Connections of the underworld mafia with eminent politicians, bureaucrats, film personalities, sports superstars are well known. Often many of the so-called celebrities and known public figures are seen enjoying cricket matches, attending marriage parties or regaling in variety entertainment shows in the company of these mafia dons.

The police, CBI and such other watchdogs of the government are well aware of all these. Yet they remain passive bystanders and it is the unholy nexus of the power that be with these arch criminals which rules the roost. In fact, what has come to light in Abu Salem’s case is a tip of the iceberg. Not only Mumbai, such crime rackets and gangsterism are now rampant in all big cities under direct patronage of the bourgeois parties of all hues. Hapless unemployed youths are being lured with money, drawn into the dark world of multiple crime and exploited to intimidate the people voicing protest against mounting capitalist onslaught on life and livelihood and crush legitimate working class struggles and democratic mass movements. Otherwise, neither Dawood nor Abu Salem, Chhota Sakeel or Chhota Rajan could afford to carry out these illegal activities at will with alacrity. In fact, these underworld dons and criminals now operate in open, run a parallel reign of their own. The people at large are terrorized at this ever-growing crime graph with overt or covert indulgence of the police-administration. Not that the Mumbai film industry in the financial capital of India is only financed by the underworld. In fact, the arm of this underworld is now ‘openly’ extended to funding and nurturing of power-hungry bourgeois political parties. Specific links of media-hogging bourgeois political bigwigs with known mafia kingpins are no more secrets. There was a time when the bourgeois politicians in order to win elections and brandish power used to requisition the services of the criminals and anti-socials. At that period, criminals and mafia elements were nurtured under the protective tutelage of the power seeking aspirant bourgeois leaders. But now the criminals call the shot. The ruling bourgeoisie now stands completely isolated from the people. But to pretend that a rule of the people’s choice is in vogue, the class makes a show of parliamentary election which it has been merrily rigging and manipulating to the advantage of its subservient parties by pressing into action, among other things, the services of these criminals and anti-socials. So much indulgence has been given to these hard-core criminals and proteges of the underworld in the process that they themselves are now in command of the show, becoming MLAs, MPs and ministers, controlling trade and commerce, blackmarket, redressal machinery and even desks of administration. In fact, the bourgeois political heavy-weights often capitulate to the criminal and underworld chiefs for making fortunes in vote-politics. Criminal elements have been merrily making to the top of the bourgeois political parties as well. Not only the known bourgeois parties like the Congress, the BJP or those headed by Laloo, Mulayam, Nitish, Mayawati, Jayalalita, Chandrababu are in the vortex of criminalized politics, even the pseudo-Marxists like the CPI, CPI(M) who have now joined the bandwagon of serving the ruling capitalist class for pelf and power are increasingly becoming dependent upon criminals and musclemen for survival and muffling people’s voice. Criminalization of bourgeois politics is complete. It cannot be otherwise. Criminals are not clutched out of the thin air but are bred by the system. It is the moribund decadent bourgeois system, which is producing, rearing and steering the criminals. The ruling bourgeois class which is giving birth to these criminal elements in soaring numbers, put them in use to let loose a reign of terror so that the people, grueling under ruthless exploitation, do not dare to raise voice of protest and instead resign to fate. Facts show eloquently that under the facade of democracy, there is a fascist rule operative based on crime-corruption-gangsterism and it is a free ground for the underworld dons to ride roughshod over law.

One may question then how could Abu Salem be taken into custody. It is true that the omnipotent underworld kingpins are allowed to go full throttle. But the ruling class also keeps a watch that certain individuals do not drag to such an extent that quelling voice of dissent from even its own close quarters becomes a problem. At such points, it is forced to undertake some pretentious actions through its subservient state machine as eyewash to assuage the feeling and bury the controversies and questions. The serial blasts in Mumbai in 1993 killing 257 people and wounding thousands were such acts that considerably embarrassed the bourgeois government and the capitalist state already rattled following the Babari Masjid episode. The risk was becoming too much for the government to handle. Moreover, the demand for identifying and nabbing the culprits responsible for such a heinous crime could not be disdained altogether. When Abu Salem estranged from Dawood Ibrahim, considered to be wielding maximum power in the international gangsterism and shady underworld deals, the Indian administration found it relatively convenient to lay a hand on Salem and bring him to India. But one can jolly well anticipate what could be the outcome of namesake of a trial because those who could enforce law are themselves under the governance of criminalized politics. Already rumours are in the air that Salem might become government approver, might remain insulated from any serious punishment because of conditions of extradition, etc. Even if some token punishment is meted out to him, the polity and the society would not be freed from the yoke of thumping criminalization. So long capitalism exists, there will be no extradition of crime from the society. Expecting reprieve through bourgeois administrative set up and legal framework will be futile. To contain Abu Salem and his ilk, people must rise up in organized protest, be united to launch a fierce democratic movement with courage, valour and determination and compel the administration take some remedial action. More intense is this movement, more enhanced will be the chance to effectively check the growth of this menacing phenomenon of criminalization. Otherwise, the ruling class, with the help of these underworld dons and notorious criminals will ultimately clamp total fascism on the country.