India's case is unfortunately a lot more worse. The reason why this sort of corruption gets an easy pass is because the public is not necessarily against corruption. They like to imagine themselves as temporarily embarrassed 'millionaires' type of section. While the discussion is always on the lines corruption being bad, its only used in the context of looking better.
Pretty much everyone wants a government job, or any job where they can make money through bribes. Major Indian cities run dozens of coaching class cram schools to prep people for civil services jobs. Becoming corrupt is an aspirational thing in India. This is an elephant in the room nobody wants to discuss. Your ordinary Indian walking on the street deeply aspires to be corrupt. Only thing next to this is the desire for managerial jobs in private firms. Because this is how you get by life giving orders and not doing any work.
The only reason why the protests against the previous governments was so intense was not because of corruption. The overall polarising movement that started in the 1980s from the destruction of Babri Masjid means there is a long running and developing trend among India's electoral masses to consolidate on the lines of religion. This means other things aren't all that important. This also means to win elections, you need money from all these big corporate payers. Their corruption goes ignored, and in many is even perfectly acceptable.
Its more an inequality story than a corruption story. Corruption is always a side effect of inequality.
If an ambitious, energetic kid is born in a slum or some backward area and doesn't see legitimate ways to access resources/climb the ladder, chances are very high the kid will take shortcuts. That's the nature of high energy, ambitious people. These people, purely based on the drive they have, influence the behavior of the rest that surround them.
When such people are identified early, and given the right guidance/resources the outcomes are totally different.
Pretty much everyone wants a government job, or any job where they can make money through bribes. Major Indian cities run dozens of coaching class cram schools to prep people for civil services jobs. Becoming corrupt is an aspirational thing in India. This is an elephant in the room nobody wants to discuss. Your ordinary Indian walking on the street deeply aspires to be corrupt. Only thing next to this is the desire for managerial jobs in private firms. Because this is how you get by life giving orders and not doing any work.
The only reason why the protests against the previous governments was so intense was not because of corruption. The overall polarising movement that started in the 1980s from the destruction of Babri Masjid means there is a long running and developing trend among India's electoral masses to consolidate on the lines of religion. This means other things aren't all that important. This also means to win elections, you need money from all these big corporate payers. Their corruption goes ignored, and in many is even perfectly acceptable.