#dnaEdit: VVIP treatment

Air India, India’s official carrier, has been reduced to being the personal carrier of VVIPs, completely subservient to the whims, fancies and demands of ministers and senior government officials. A sick public sector unit plagued by funds crunch, mismanagement and a terrible reputation in the aviation sector, is back in the news for the wrong reasons: First it was Devendra Fadnavis, who held up a New York-bound flight because his principal secretary had forgotten to carry the right passport. Then, on June 24, the Delhi-Leh flight from Leh couldn’t take off on time and three passengers had to be deboarded to accommodate Union minister of state for home Kiren Rijiju, his assistant and Jammu and Kashmir’s deputy chief minister Nirmal Kumar Singh. Though Rijiju and Fadnavis have been prompt in denying their involvements, it is common knowledge how ministers and highly placed officials routinely abuse their positions to delay flights and force the airline’s officials to book seats for them at the last-minute, thus inconveniencing passengers. 

In Rijiju’s case, initially four people were asked to vacate their seats — an armyman, and the three-member family of an IAF officer. Later, the armyman was called back, but the entire episode shows why Air India will continue to be what it is now— an apology for an airline with no regard for non-VVIP passengers. The state police didn’t allow boarding to happen because the VVIPS would have to be seated first. This, despite the fact that the Delhi-bound flight was running on a tight schedule. The flight had to leave the airport before 10.30 am because the Leh runway was to shut down for repairs. Rijiju didn’t want to wait and the chopper supposed to take him back couldn’t fly due to inclement weather. For the minister’s last-minute change in plans, the IAF officer, his wife and their child had to suffer. 

Fadnavis, too, had considered it justifiable to keep the passengers waiting. The flight wouldn’t have taken off without the Chief Minister of Maharashtra. But Fadnavis could easily have booked himself on another flight. His lack of consideration for the passengers appears to underline a certain transformation in the man once considered humble and well-mannered. 

Our legislators have earned a great deal of disrepute for demanding preferential treatment, and in showing complete disregard for rules that ordinary citizens have to abide by. On Wednesday, DMK leader MK Stalin slapped a man, standing close to him on Chennai Metro, for refusing to move. The video of the incident had gone viral and drew widespread condemnation. The systems of administration, all too frequently, are subverted to meet the demands of the VIPs or VVIP’s. 

Rijiju and Fadnavis’ arrogance stems from that long tradition of abuse of power, which politicians have now come to virtually consider as their inalienable right. Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, who is vocal about establishing a culture of accountability in governance, needs to do a lot more than seeking a report from the civil aviation ministry on Air India flights delayed by VVIPs. For starters, stern warnings from the PM could have sent the right message to both the VVIPs and the political establishment, that the country’s chief executive is ready to walk the talk. 

Sadly, no political leader seems to have the resolve and the conviction to end the deeply entrenched VIP culture. The same observation can also be made about the equally entrenched networks of corruption. More often than not, the judiciary has passed strictures against the practice of VIP culture that inconveniences ordinary citizens. Recall that in 2013, the Supreme Court limited the use of red beacon lights to only the vehicles of high Constitutional authorities. 

In the end, we may yet have to seek the judiciary’s help to curb an omnipresent culture that is essentially feudal and makes a mockery of democracy.