In the recent past, the phenomenon of 'criminalization of politics' has been
much debated in the media, but it has not attracted adequate scholarly
attention. In India, this phenomenon is not new for the country's democracy.
This book examines the phenomenon, whose roots lies in the very process of
democratization. It traces the trajectory of the political economy of the
India's state of Bihar, and its engagement with the question of land and caste
that has lead to the criminalization of politics. Certain idioms and/or
registers of politics, which are seen as anachronistic to impersonal modern
institutions, are central to this study. The patron-client relationship in
Indian politics