Kamdev Singh English 2022

When did the criminalization of politics begin in India? How did booth capturing become a way of influencing elections? Who is the man, virtually unknown today, responsible for setting up the infamous criminal-politician nexus? This book tells the compelling story of Kamdev Singh (1930-80), the original godfather of lndian politics who went from being a semi-literate cowherd in Bihar's Begusarai to hobnobbing with Delhi's political elite. Starting out by selling coal, he graduated to smuggling ganja, and soon his operations stretched all along the Indo-Nepali border and in all major Indian cities. By the 1960s, Kamdev had become a wheeler-dealer in the corridors of power. For decades, his writ ran politics in Bihar and beyond. Political parties used his muscle power to take on rivals and alter the course of elections. This culture of criminalization of politics that began with Kamdev Singh continued long after his violent death in a police operation in 1980.