Vinay Thusoo
After facing what they said was a delay of two and a half hours, passengers of an Islamabad-bound PIA flight from Karachi, barred Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) leader Rehman Malik and Pakistan Muslim League – Nawaz (PML-N) Member of National Assembly Dr Ramesh Kumar Wakwani from boarding the aircraft. The two were accused of holding the plane back while other passengers waited for hours.Angry passengers show lawmakers the door.”We have taken it for too long… 68 years… are we going to take it for another 68 years?” passengers could be heard saying it in the clip uploaded to video-sharing site Dailymotion.As Malik approached the jetway that connects the terminal to the aircraft, furious passengers are heard saying, “Malik sahab, sorry. You should go back. You should apologise to these passengers. You should be ashamed of yourself… 250 passengers have suffered because of you. It is your fault, sir.””Maliksahab, you are not a minister any more. And even if you are, we don’t care… anymore.”Passengers on a Pakistan plane showed how it’s shamed an arrogant politician who kept 250 passengers waiting on a plane and one can see him running back .Taking cue from this, the question arises “Is VIP Culture of India any different from Pakistan.” Our Country is also the opposite of whatever it should be: so much appears to have gone wrong in our country, everything has been corrupted. And if we had to name the horror that is in India, we would say: the VIP culture;
On 14thFebruary, the Supreme Court took up an issue, which has been agitating the public mind for several years. The Court frowned upon the existing VIP culture. A petition filed by senior counsel Harish Salve gave details about the misuse of the state machinery in blocking roads to give priority passage to VIPs, “flashing red lights” atop their cars and blowing sirens to intimidate the public. The Bench remarked that “the threat perception becomes a symbol of power” and asked the government to give details of such arrangements and expenditure incurred. How did we develop this culture when our founding fathers shunned pompous security? Terrorism gave an excuse for all to travel with heavy intimidating escort vehicles.A new culture has been there for some time in Mumbai and Delhi. Corporate honchos travel in big cars escorted by their safari clad bodyguards in SUVs resembling police protection units, waving their walkie-talkie sets through open windows to intimidate other drivers, pretending to be government escorts. An ordinary driver has no means of knowing whether the “VIP” is genuine or not. In fact, such typical marks on their vehicles constitute the biggest security threat as miscreants can hurl explosive devices at conspicuous vehicles. This has happened in Jammu & Kashmir, when militants hired small boys to hurl grenades at passing police vehicles. All over the world coloured beacons are allowed only on emergency vehicles travelling on emergency duties. Blowing sirens is strictly forbidden, unless in cases of emergency. It is quite possible that Central and State governments would be furnishing their rules under Motor Vehicle Acts, indicating “who are entitled” to have red beacons, to justify the existing situation. According to the 2002 Central rules, 19 categories of high dignitaries are permitted red beacons with flasher, 21 with red lights without flasher, 4 local official categories with amber beacon and emergency vehicles with blue beacons. No bureaucrat except the Cabinet Secretary or state Chief Secretary and no defence officer except the chiefs or acting chiefs can display red lights. We have, however, seen that almost all the senior secretariat officers and even brigadier level defenceofficers display red lights.There is a need that the Supreme Court intervenes and should drastically prune even this “official list” and allow such facilities only to emergency vehicles, constitutional posts and high judicial officers. No siren should be allowed except in emergency.
Those who face threats should be provided unobtrusive escorts but without any power frills like red beacons.
Primarily the perks for public officials in India are a matter of concern? e.g the number of perks; the type of perks, especially those that confer “status rents”; and, finally, the link between perks and performance. However, some elements of the public system were de facto privatised by being “reserved” for “VIP duty” even as ordinary citizens were kept waiting. When V P Singh,former Prime Minister of India was undergoing dialysis, the machine was kept unavailable to other patients even when it was not being used by him — socialism is much better when practised on others.Senior officials, ministers and members of Parliament drag their feet when it comes to vacating government houses after retirement or demitting office.Others hold on to prized official quarters in New Delhi, even though they are no longer posted in the capital.
But perhaps the most sinister of the perks that have overgrown like poisonous weeds are the “status perks” — in other words, the lalbatti syndrome that gives exemption from rules that should apply to all.
There are a number of Indians with high self-regard who express outrage at being treated as mere mortals and at being questioned or searched in foreign airports.More than six decades after Independence, from courts (such as the Madras high court) — where judges are preceded by an orderly who runs in front of the judge through the corridor to warn people of “your Lord’s arrival” — to the VIP entrances at major temples and shrines — where it is unclear which lord is paying obeisance to which god — the colonial ideal of separating rulers from the ruled is deeply resonant among India’s ruling elite.
Moreover, the life of comfort creates unhealthy incentives to remain in the “front row” by retaining power with the desperate search for post-retirement jobs which eventually result in lot many compromises in order to retain the perks.
Concluding with a message to those so-called-VIPS, I am not against you people having body guards, maybe you people have a real threat to life, but the blatant display of firearms and aggression by your guards should be stopped immediately. Not all of us want to kill/kidnap you. You have the right to spend on your safety but you do not own the roads. I believe only ambulances enjoy such privileges for obvious reasons and not you folks. If you are on the road, please do not harass or insult other people who are travelling there as well and who have equal rights as you.
( The author is serving as Public Relations Officer with Jammu University. The views expressed in this article are his own.)
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