VIPs - The bane of India.

A few days ago, I was stuck in a huge traffic jam with the signal never changing its color to green. It was a wait that was truly testing the people's tolerance. What should have normally been a delay of maximum five minutes had already taken close to twenty minutes on that day. The patience of those waiting there was already wearing thin and totally exceeded the threshold pretty soon as they started honking deliriously, but to no avail! The wait continued for ten more minutes and finally we could see an entourage of cars passing on the other side of the road led by police jeeps. Well, you may have guessed it right. It was apparently a minister passing by, and to make his journey smooth, traffic was halted on both sides, for as long as half an hour!  

My mind quickly recollected the ban on red beacons imposed from last year. The respected Prime Minister had tweeted that with the red beacons on vehicles gone, every Indian was special and every Indian was a VIP. Yes, the beacons were gone, but the VIP culture has remained. This was a culture that accorded special rights on a select few so that they always had an upper hand over the rest of the citizens and enjoyed special privileges. Being branded as a VIP was a status symbol and there was an era when people looked up to this privileged class with wonder. Power and money were the only two parameters required for this VIP badge, and once this badge was on, then these were the people who considered themselves as some extra terrestrial entities who were always given 'extra' everywhere in terms of respect, status, prestige, services, treatment and the list goes on.

Now, when common people like you and me spend hours roasted in the traffic and pollution, what special thing has a minister done to deserve a road fully free for his entire convoy with air conditioned cars? Isn't he just representing us in the government? Didn't he get all that authority due to the power of the ballot? All the power, position that a minister enjoys is due to the power of the vote and to behave as someone above us is tantamount to mocking us. If a sick person has to wait indefinitely in an ambulance till the CM of a state passes, where are we stuck? Doesn't the life of normal people like us have value?  If the political class does not understand the rigours in the days of a common man, how can they provide solutions to our problems? If they do not get off their high end cars and mingle with the general population, they will always remain in ivory towers in a parallel universe oblivious of all the issues of a common man. 

This VIP culture has got so deeply ingrained in the mindset of a few that mere banning of beacons has not really served the purpose. Almost every month, we see news of unruly behaviour by so called VIPs on roads, in airplanes and in public places. The basic problem in all these instances is that these people consider themselves a cut above the rest who can never be questioned, never reprimanded, and never be asked to follow general rules followed by all others. They get away with a lot of things that common people pay a heavy price for. We see so many of these VIPs committing crimes and then evade courts, easily get bail and prolong cases for decades whereas the noose is tight for common man. 

When the PM said that every Indian is a Very Important Person, one needed to take it with a pinch of salt. Could you ever imagine being treated like a VIP ever, apart from a month prior to elections? Then too, you have never experienced empty roads for you alone to move around, no security around you all times to protect you or no special entitlements for you. Actually a common man on the street wants none of these. All he wants is basic facilities for him to lead a good life. Food, clothes, shelter, education, healthcare are some of the rudimentary things he wants for his living. Whether a government considers him as a Very Important Person or not is none of his botheration, he wants the government to consider him at least as a 'person'. 

An aam aadmi has seen him being glorified as a VIP during elections and then getting reduced to a 'Very IGNORED Person' right after the results. It's a vicious cycle where politicians beg for votes in front of us making us true blue VIPs for a few days, only to disdainfully sweep us aside for the next five years. The tables turn drastically as we get reduced to vagrants who have to run from pillar to post for even essential services and infrastructure. From a momentary 'Very Important Person' to a permanent 'Very Ignored Person', a common man has seen it all for the past 70 years since independence. 

We have seen a few VIPs get loans to the tune of thousands of crores even when in debt and now enjoy in the comforts of foreign countries while poor, hapless farmers are hounded day and night for repayment and finally commit suicides. It's this kind of VIP culture that has plagued the Indian system for decades and the misplaced priorities placed since a long time has led to a very deplorable situation for people in rural areas who are bereft of facilities and opportunities. 

To be fair, the deep rooted VIP culture has received a body blow with the advent of social media. Earlier the common man did not have a voice or a medium to air his views. A select few always controlled the narrative and the rest did not have an outlet to express. But now the proliferation of social media has ensured that people have access to many facts and resources and can take on the goliaths. A few years ago, any wrong act of VIPs was condoned in the inner circles. But now, social media has given the power to a common man to take the issue to the highest echelons of the system and is acting as a deterrent to the privileged class not to take things lightly anymore. 

Though the schism has reduced compared to the past, the elitist VIP culture is still prevalent in the system and is not showing any signs of abating. If anyone wants to seriously root out the VIPism, it requires cutting down all the 'extra' privileges. VIPs do not just exist in the political landscape, they are spread out over all spheres of society. It requires clipping of the 'extra' wings so that these people scale down from their high pedestals and merge with the masses. Can those at the top cut off all the 'extras', which would mean hitting the axe right on the branch they are sitting? This looks highly improbable, but if the true meaning of democracy is to be realised, then it is imperative that this culture has to be eradicated. 

In a game of cricket, if a batsman is out, then he has to walk back to the pavillion even if he is the greatest batsman or the captain. There is no privilege accorded to him because of his status or his past accomplishments. The rules are same for everyone and this level playing field is what makes sports such an educating experience. Why can't we follow the same paradigm elsewhere too? Why should someone be treated as a VIP because of power, position or status? The day when the system looks at an Ambani and a poor farmer in some remote part of the country as equal is when we can confidently say that the VIP culture has eroded. Though it looks overly optimistic and highly impossible, that is actually the goal to be aimed for.  On the internet you can see many photos of foreign Prime Ministers, Presidents and top business tycoons doing their own chores as common people do. Why is it not possible in India too? Why do we love special treatment so much? 

Being a VIP is a safety net that insulates from most of the noise around. It is a cocoon that engulfs around you eliminating the need for you to do and follow the things done by others. It's the kind of intoxication and addiction that one can never give up willingly. That explains why the culture is so deep rooted and hard to eliminate. That's why, to think, that banning red beacons is giving more prominence to common people is so wrong. You have just banned the beacon on vehicles, not the culture itself, while the beacon still exists in the heads of VIPs.  If 'Person' is a single entity where 'Very Important' is the extreme positive end and 'Very ignored' is the extreme negative end, justice will be served if both these extremes are out of the window and only the single entity 'Person' remains. Let nobody be important or very important and let there be a system where every single person is considered for his existence as a human so that everybody is guaranteed equality. 

So, what can WE do to alleviate this culture? Well, for a start, let us begin treating those below us in terms of money, position or education in a better way. The fruits/vegetable vendor on the street, the waiter in a hotel, the road sweeper, the auto driver- these are the people who you may treat better. Only when we change can we expect others to change. India has this VIP concept from centuries together in the form of kings, queens and the nobles who constituted the royal class. So, it is a very tough task to tackle this ages old notion. But we have moved over to democracy since independence and it is already high time that we take firm steps to truly reap the benefits of a democratic system. For far too long, we have remained igorant as others have taken advantage of this ignorance and innocence and milked us to the maximum extent possible. Perhaps, is it not time to become Very Intelligent Persons(VIP) from Very Ignorant Persons(VIP) to stand up against the Very Important Persons(VIP)? 😉