BANGALORE: Civil society and the political class reacted with outrage and poured opprobrium over JD (S) chief HD Kumaraswamy's remark that there's nothing wrong in criminals entering politics.

What the JD(S) leader is espousing is the equivalent of the fence eating the crop. Naturally, it elicited universal condemnation. In fact,'shocked', would be too mild a term to describe the reaction of ordinary people to his outrageous comment. The Times of India was flooded with calls from people — one of the highest ever — expressing their stupefaction that the son of a former PM is not only fielding criminals but defending his action on the grounds of reforming criminals. However, the man at the centre of the storm, Kumaraswamy, stayed unfazed and reiterated what he told TOI scribes on Monday, adding for good measure, "people who are criminals today may be good citizens tomorrow. And today's good citizens may become criminals tomorrow.''

Lokayukta Justice N Santosh Hegde found Kumaraswamy's statement so ridiculous that he was actually at a loss for words, saying, "I don't know what to say!" State Congress chief R V Deshpande pointed out that a criminal denied a ticket by the Congress had been fielded by JD(S).

BJP MP from Bangalore South Ananth Kumar was also categorical in saying that there was no role for criminals in polity. Janaagraha co-founder Ramesh Ramanathan felt the only way society could keep criminals out of politics was to stop working for parties that support them. Parties that field criminal candidates hide behind technicalities which say that acquitted candidates can stand for elections, pointed out Trilochan Sastry of National Election Watch, adding, "it was unacceptable."