Main VIP Hoon, Tum Kaun?

“The officer should apologize…He threatened to complain…..I hit him 25 times with my sandals, tore his clothes and broke his specs….I have no regrets…I have many criminal cases against me….I am an MP and will not tolerate any insult.” Thundered Shiv Sena MP Ravindra Gaikwad as he assaulted an Air India manager because he was denied a Business Class seat on an all economy Pune-Delhi flight. Worse, even though an FIR was filed against him and all domestic carriers refused to fly him, the Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan refused to take suo moto cognizance of the MP’s criminal conduct.

Sic. And we call ourselves a democracy! Alas, this latest high jinx of our ‘don’t-you-know-I-am-a-VIP’ underscores that our neo-Maharajas MPs and MLAs suffer from the Acute Orwellian syndrome of “some are more equal than others” with in-your-face boorishness being their trademark.

Daily we are treated to some mindless antics, inane tantrums, silly shenanigans et al by our rulers. For them politics translates into the conduct of public affairs for private advantage with two sets of laws: rule of law for us where innocents are jailed for trivial crimes and rule by law for them read ‘follow-no-rules’. Undeniably, we seem to live in an India where only VVIPs matter, living life in the slim strip called ‘official’ in a race for privilege.

Wherein there is a wide chasm between the aam aadmi and our khaas aadmis. Add to this the high octane decibels of Saada Haq whereby, just about everybody, who’s anybody abuses power and public resources topped by being protected all at our expense.

Question them? God forbid be prepared for open fury. Last fortnight BJP MP and Delhi Chief Manoj Tiwari admonished a teacher who asked him to sing a couple of lines. Blasting her, he angrily bellowed, “How dare you ask me to sing is this the way to speak to an MP?” telling her to get off the stage and officials to take action against her. Two other BJP MPs misbehaved with hospital staff and a Dalit doctor in Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh.

Remember six MPs and ex-MPs abusing their privileges by putting in fake travel vouchers or six Goa MLAs going to Brazil to watch the FIFA matches with taxpayers footing their Rs 90 lakhs bill. Shocked? Not at all, simply because the more things change the more they remain the same.

The icing on the cake: All live like Burra Sahibs! Costing the tax payer an extra Rs 60 crore annually to maintain their seven-star plush 5-acres mansions in tony Lutyens Delhi with manicured lawns where they grow wheat and vegetables, free pani upto 4000 kl per annum, bijli upto 50,000 units, furniture Rs 30,000, 1,50,000 local calls for 3 telephones and 50,000 free local calls during a year for Internet, air-conditioners, fridges and maintenance to boot down to a Rs 10 tube-light all for free.

Moreover, our jan sevaks have a battalion of policemen to protect them from the janata they profess to serve! For our democracy to enter the next level of maturity we need to rethink the entire gamut of privileges and freebies. Clearly the time has come for our polity to realize that any increase in privileges is co-terminus with an increase in accountability.

Clearly, if India is to be seen as a potential great power, our leaders must dispense with unnecessary privileges. As a new generation comes of age our rulers need to remember a home-truth: Gone are the days when leaders were revered, today they symbolise everything that plagues India, warts and all. It remains to be seen whether our polity will go beyond symbolism or continue to live life Maharaja-size and indulge in inane tokenism?

By Poonam I Kaushish