JOIN USWhen Pakistan’s former interior minister Rehman Malik proudly walked into a PIA flight two hours late than its scheduled time, little did he know he was going to become a big YouTube sensation in a short while. The irate passengers stood at the door of the Islamabad-bound plane, shouted at the politician, shamed him before disallowing him from boarding the flight.
The mobile phone-shot video, first posted on Daily Motion and then on Youtube, went viral, generated comments from twitteratis and lead to lively television debates and hour-long special shows in India and Pakistan. The stress of these debates was on how it is always the common man who has to suffer inconveniences to pamper our netas.
Being the capital and the seat of India’s political throne, Delhi and its residents also have to deal with this so-called ‘VIP culture’ day in and day out. “If politicians want to delay flights, they should rather book their own chartered planes. Why should I suffer? I am the tax payer who runs the country, not them,” says 20-year-old, Abhishek, an engineering student before he deboards the train at the Central Secretariat Metro station.
“Politicians are the servants, not the masters. People should continuously remind them of their role”, he adds for good measure.“When a politician is ill, the pain is not limited to him. It is felt by many,” echoes Ramanand, a 45-year-old resident of East of Kailash.
“Just a few weeks back, I was on my way to Connaught Place, when I found the entire stretch near AIIMS sealed off. It would have been fine if just the roads in front of the famous hospital were blocked. However, they had sealed all the nearby road as well. I had to take a very long turn and eventually reached my destination an hour late,” he says with a grumpy smile.
“Afterwards I came to know our ‘Pradhan Sevak’ Narendra Modi had visted AIIMS to have his ‘regular’ medical checkup. Many patients had to face problems and wait outside the hospital premises so that our dear PM could get his medical status checked,” adds Ramanand with a dry smile.
For somebody who lives near AIIMS, inconvenience due to ‘ailing’ politicians is something not uncommon. “Whether it’s Sonia Gandhi, Rajnath Singh or Modi, sick politicians eventually mean blocked roads, rude and abusive traffic policemen and inconvenience in parking your vehicles or even getting to your workplace,” says Deb, a resident of Gautam Nagar in south Delhi.
For most of the citizens who regularly travel on city’s roads, a VIP convoy is a nightmare in itself. Gurdeep Singh, who runs a taxi stand in south Delhi’s Sarita Vihar has been ferrying passengers on city’s roads for 20 years now and has faced several traffic jams on account of such VIP convoys.
“In many European countries, it is just one car which accompanies ministers, who even stop at traffic signals. Here in India, there are no stop signs for VIPs. There have been times when my passengers have reached late to their destinations because of VIPS, and once or twice some have even missed their trains due to traffic jams caused by these convoys. If ministers in other countries can be treated like commoners, why not here in India?” wonders Singh.
A traffic constable near Central Secretariat Metro station says it is they who have to hear abuses from angry passengers when they are kept waiting. “They curse us, sometimes even argue with us, when it is not even our fault. We also don’t want to inflict inconvenience on the commuters but have to follow orders from our seniors,” he says ruefully.
When passengers on the PIA flight sent Malik on his way back home, one of them shouted “It’s been 68 years since we got free, Mr Malik. Now how long should we wait?”
The same question is often asked by Delhi’s residents, eager to get ‘freedom’ from VIP culture and arrogance.