OVER the past three decades, the umbilical cord that ties Indian democracy to crime has grown so thick and variegated that the allegations against the Delhi property mogul Romesh Sharma that have appeared in the press after his arrest on October 20 have aroused little more than a sick fascination in the newspaper reading public. What after all is Sharma supposed to have done that a host of underworld dons have not been doing for decades in Bombay? How can one get worked up about him when 19 ministers in Kalyan Singh's government in UP have criminal records or 'history sheets' and one, Hari Shankar Tiwari, has no less than 37 murder indictments pending against him. Before the likes of Tiwari and Mukhtar Ansari, also of UP, or Arun Gawli, Babu Reshim, and Rama Naik of Bombay, Sharma is small fry.