Posted on Sunday, July 19, 2009 | By Gautam | In constitution , rights
VIP. Very 'Important' Person. It's a new species of humans altogether who are supposedly superior to all the other humans on the face of this earth who are, well, un-important. Or how else does one explain the 'important' tag that is fixed to a privileged few. I was told as a kid that India is a democracy. A few days ago, I checked the status of our country and it confirmed that we still are a democracy. Democracy you say? Well then what's up with this VIP crap???
As the case is with most of us in the school, I too was poor in a subject called civics. But I'd studied enough of the dreaded subject to know that our constitution assumes every citizen of India to be having the same set of fundamental rights, bound by the same set of duties and governed by the same set of laws. Yes, I've written the 'constitution assumes' because had everyone been equal, we wouldn't have a relic of the feudal past where some citizens would be important and others, well they'll be citizens who would be law abiding, who would be paying the taxes on time but still wouldn't be important.
The whole concept of VIP is highly contradictory to a democratic setup, its even blasphemous if you consider the constitution, the state and your freedom to be holy. As soon as you accept someone to be important and dole out the state's services to him/ her on a silver platter, you are doing dis-service to all the other citizens of the country who are and maybe more patriotic than your VIP.
What does a VIP in India do other than blocking the traffic for hours altogether, enjoying a state's hospitality for free, a police escort and a motorcade full with his/ her cronies, spouse, children and whatever else can be cramped in.
As a kid we all have seen movies where the now clichéd zamindaar (the feudal lord) would be greeted by people who would fall on his feet. The same scene is repeated now, even after 60 years of freedom when the state bends backwards to accommodate these so called important people.
Feudalism is not dead still.....
As the case is with most of us in the school, I too was poor in a subject called civics. But I'd studied enough of the dreaded subject to know that our constitution assumes every citizen of India to be having the same set of fundamental rights, bound by the same set of duties and governed by the same set of laws. Yes, I've written the 'constitution assumes' because had everyone been equal, we wouldn't have a relic of the feudal past where some citizens would be important and others, well they'll be citizens who would be law abiding, who would be paying the taxes on time but still wouldn't be important.
The whole concept of VIP is highly contradictory to a democratic setup, its even blasphemous if you consider the constitution, the state and your freedom to be holy. As soon as you accept someone to be important and dole out the state's services to him/ her on a silver platter, you are doing dis-service to all the other citizens of the country who are and maybe more patriotic than your VIP.
What does a VIP in India do other than blocking the traffic for hours altogether, enjoying a state's hospitality for free, a police escort and a motorcade full with his/ her cronies, spouse, children and whatever else can be cramped in.
As a kid we all have seen movies where the now clichéd zamindaar (the feudal lord) would be greeted by people who would fall on his feet. The same scene is repeated now, even after 60 years of freedom when the state bends backwards to accommodate these so called important people.
Feudalism is not dead still.....
I agree.
But, who gives them this VIP status?
By the same un-important citizens who abide by the law, who pay the taxes on time. The same citizens elect them into these responsible (rather privileged) positions. The politicians whose chief motive is anyways to fulfill their cheap personal interests take every advantage of this position.
We cry hoarse upon encroachment of our rights, but how many of us actually use those rights ? How many people are like Kiran Bedi – who can treat politicians and common man both alike.
Sadly, none of us.
All of us are embarrassingly obsequious to anyone in authority; right from the traffic police to top corporate honchos.