- We Indians are quite fond of showcasing our pedigrees, credentials, connections, and position of power at any given opportunity without any hint of embarrassment/cringe. So much so that we love to flaunt our acquired reach, including positions, without holding back one bit. Trust the majority of us to explain in absolute delight how well-connected we are by unleashing stories of pulling a string or two to get the high and mighty carry out our bidding. Most of us would relate to this statement the moment one mentions knowing somebody in the hierarchy vis-à-vis politicians, bureaucrats, technocrats, or, for that matter, notorious anti-social elements. We almost take great pride in narrating tales of how our connections go deep, wide, and far.
PC: The Quint
- And then we have this obsession with the VIP culture that is so widely prevalent in the country. It’s a fact that the privileged lot are accorded special treatment on several occasions, making ordinary citizens raise the issue, often decrying such moves. But we haven’t changed despite various guidelines circulated to shun the VIP culture altogether. The recent football great Lionel Messi’s reception in Kolkata reminded the nation yet again that VIP culture is very much alive and kicking the masses. Remember how, in September, French President Macron was stuck on an NYC street closed for Trump’s passage. He did what could be quite unthinkable for an Indian neta – walking 30 minutes to reach his embassy.
PC: Mid-day
- That’s because the West got over its VIP hang-ups long ago. Ireland’s new president, Catherine Connolly, cycles to work. The night when Swedish PM Olof Palme was killed on a Stockholm Road in 1996, he was walking home with his wife after a movie. But India is different, as Kolkata was reminded last week when it held its breath to see football great Messi, in person, at Salt Lake Stadium. Messi came, but hoi polloi, who had paid up to Rs.12,000 at the counter and reportedly up to Rs. 3L in black, couldn’t get a glimpse because he was shanghaied by VIPs. A flash release of the collective breath after 23 minutes wrecked the stadium and made Messi and the VIPs scramble to safety. From where did we get this culture? The SC famously asked this question not long ago.
- The court was hearing one of the many challenges to India’s VIP culture, exemplified in those days by red beacons. It said terms like high dignitary were anathema to the notion of a republic. Almost 12 years later, nothing has changed, apparently. We can buy a VIP number for our car. We can get VIP darshan at temples. People die in ambulances, waiting for VIP cavalcades to pass. We know that some trains are faster only because they’ve been made more equal than others. Essentially, with the right contacts or cash, we can jump the queue in everything from school admissions to last rites. In a market economy, which India chose to be over 30 years ago, the customer is king. Sadly, at the Salt Lake Stadium, the paying customers were denied the service.
