1. STOP VIP CULTURE

1.

 STOP VIP CULTURE

An old man was walking on the road. He was hit by a vehicle which was moving at high speed. He lay on the roadside bleeding profusely from the head but nobody came to help him. There was a road block there since a VIP was to go by that road. After one hour the VIP went by and traffic started moving through the road. Someone noticed the old man lying on the road side. But he was already dead. VIP was in no emergency situation but the old man definitely was. But the difference was that he was just a common man.

This is just one incident. So many incidents like this take place due to the VIP culture existing in India. Always it is the common man who has to bear the brunt. The VIPs never care for the common man. The luxuries enjoyed by the VIPs are paid by the govt. with the tax payer’s money. So we are the ones who are paying for their luxury. Some VIPs have more than 30 cars following them. VIP cars have red light and siren. It is like as if they are above all others. The red light and siren is their ‘symbol of power’. They don’t have to wait for signals or pay toll fee. VIPs do not have to stand in queues or be frisked at airports.

When a person is selected by a party to contest the election, he goes to all the houses on foot and humbly requests them to vote for him. He knows that without their valuable votes, he cannot become the MLA. But once he becomes the MLA, he becomes a VIP. He shifts to a big bungalow, gets a posh car, security, etc. He forgets the common man who helped him to become MLA. A gap is created between the VIP and the common man.

Today, there is a big gap between the public and public servants. We cannot meet our representatives easily any more due to the security cover around them. Each MLA and MP is surrounded by at least 3 policemen all the time.

The situation is worse in Delhi since it is the capital of India. Delhi is full of VIPs. Many VIPs come to visit Delhi for some reason or the other. Hence people of Delhi are the most affected by this VIP culture. Today, the number of VIPs has increased so much that there is a new category called the VVIP to differentiate between people in the VIP category. Elected officials, senior bureaucrats, high ranking police and military officers; all wave flags, flash red lights and blare sirens in a race for privilege.  It has become a status symbol for the VVIPs to block roads, flash red lights and have armed guards waving guns.

India got independence in 1947 and when the constitution of India was grafted, our leaders tried to make sure that power will not be concentrated in the hands of a few people so that democratic principles can be saved. But unfortunately the leaders who came later changed all rules to suit them. They have distorted the very idea of democracy.

In the 1970s the police all over India started copying the military officers by putting stars on cars. Police started using flags, stars and red lights. Soon the bureaucrats and ministers also started using red lights. Taking the excuse of terrorism, they started using heavy security. It is most shocking to know that after the Nirbhaya gang-rape case, the first reaction of the politicians was to increase the security of women politicians and not that of ordinary women.

The rich went on amassing wealth through corrupt means and become very rich. The poor are given all sorts of promises before each election but after the elections these promises are forgotten. Hence the poor continue to get poorer and poorer. The gap between the rich and the poor goes on increasing.

Today, we see the rich living in posh bungalows and owning many acres of land. But the poor are living in pitiable conditions with no facility at all. And in spite of this, we call India the biggest democratic country in the world. Is India really democratic? Do the citizens of India have the right to speak against the leaders they themselves have elected?

It is necessary for the ministers to realize that they have been elected to serve the public. How can they understand the problems of the common man if they live like VIPs? While they are supposed to reduce the problems of the common man, they themselves are becoming a big problem to the common man.

The fundamental precept of a democratic government is that all citizens are equal before law regardless of age, gender, race, caste, economic status, religion or political beliefs. Nobody is above law be it the President or the PM. But unfortunately we find that in India, a VIP is excused if he breaks the law but a common man is not. Thus VIPs are considered to be above law in many cases. A policeman who questions the VIP who has broken a law is abused and transferred. So many honest police officers are transferred by corrupt ministers for raising their voice against them.

Arvind Kejriwal demanded that the VIP culture should be stopped in Delhi. No MLA, minister or Delhi official will use a red beacon on their car. They will not live in big bungalows or use security.

WORK DONE IN DELHI REGARDING THE VIP CULTURE:

As soon as Kejriwal became the CM, the first thing he did was to stop people using red beacon on their cars. He refused to accept the huge double bungalow being allotted by the govt. to him. He travelled to the swearing ceremony by metro setting an example to others. He continued to use his own car instead of taking a govt. car.