VIP Culture in India

Suppose one of your closed ones is critical in an ambulance and struck in traffic and the cause of traffic is just because of the passing of the MP or MLA from the roads, traffic police are busy in creating an extraordinary space for the so-called VIP of your area who owe to the same people for whom he is creating this chaos. This is something that has become the culture of this country, "THE VIP CULTURE".

After a long, cruel, and devastating rule of Britishers for around 200 years, who just made this country a soulless one, India has proudly declared itself as a democratic republic that is secular, sovereign, and social. The powerful elites and politicians, who referred to them as the freedom fighters, captured all the privileges of the newly vacated bungalows of Lutyen's Delhi, and the suffering of remained ones started. Years after, the VIP culture got the boost that reached the Bureaucrats as well as to the small level of politics. The question is;

What kind of socialism is this?

VIP Culture: Facts

Despite being referred to as a poor country that is still developing, we have the most number of VIPs in the world. Well, figures will blow your mind;

India has 5,79,092 VIPs. Some say this is because of the high population, but China which has more population than India has only 435 VIPs. Other developed countries such as the USA, France, Britain, and Japan has VIPs less than 300.

India is among the least policed countries in the world, 1 cop looks for 663 people whereas 3 cops for a VIP. Of 19.36 lakh police officers in the country, 56,944 is just for the safety of 20,828 VIPs. There is nothing about safety, it has just become a status symbol for everyone. Bihar which has the least police to population ratio in the country has the maximum number of 3200 VIPs that have been given 6248 cops for protection. West Bengal is another state which misuses the police, where 2207 VIPs have been given the protection of 4233 cops, while only 501 cops were sanctioned for VIP duties.

Southern states are far better at saying no to VIP culture. Maharashtra has only 74 VIPs with only 961 cops while Kerela has only 57 VIPs with 214 policemen deployed for them.

All data are taken from the Bureau of Police Research and Development(BPR&D).

VIP Politics 

When the Modi government came into power there are two initiatives that were taken by Modi himself which were really appreciable;

The first one is the removal of red beacons from vehicles of every official and politician, Nitin Gadkari, the Minister of Road Transport and Highways, was the first minister to remove the red beacon from his car. Even Prime Minister and President were not exempt from the decision.

The second thing is he advised MPs to adopt an unprivileged village from around the country to work towards the development of that village, this suggestion was for all the MPs across the party, but sadly very few of them have adopted a village and worked towards that village. It could be a great initiative.

We can see the daughter of the country's biggest and oldest political family has been privileged with bungalows and facilities in Lutyen's Delhi without contesting a single election in her life and getting an SPG cover, which cost 1.62 crores a day, for so many years. Without contesting any kind of election, she was enjoying her life to the fullest with the country's taxpayer's money.

On the other side, we had seen how students studying in Kota suffered to return to their home in Bihar or UP, but one of the BJP's MLA from Bihar traveled so long to Kota, Rajasthan to bring her daughter back and get all the permissions from authorities with his influential powers, and went unpunished of breaching lockdown norms.

VIP Bureaucracy

Is there any need for security for an Income tax officer or a higher officer who serves in departments like Railways or PWD, well-developed countries I don't think so, but India has this culture of VIP Bureaucracy. 

There is a rat race going on for the privilege and building standards in society among government officials. An officer from a variety of departments will always walk with a person holding his files, another with his briefcase. They force the office staff to work in their household, bootlickers are everywhere. Having a huge garden with flowers which are managed by a gardener, using government vehicles for their family has become a rare thing. Most of the time, power is misused by the family members of the officials.

An IAS or IPS will have a gunman to protect him without any threat to his life. Even a bank manager is getting the privilege of VIP culture who is served with tea and coffees in his air-conditioned cabin. This is the initial point of corruption in every government organization. Getting free water, electricity, subsidized food from government canteens are just common thing which is very uncommon for people living in slums and spending lives in poverty and also for all the taxpayers. 

Conclusion

In India, whether it is politicians, sports personalities, businessmen, or any other celebrity, the VIP culture exists and is continuously rising. No checkout at airports, special attention in public areas creates a deep gap between the privileged and unprivileged and creating discrimination. There is no right time to end something which is damaging the system and creating trouble for common people. 

An unskilled engineer with a B.Tech degree is useless, an MBA graduate is of no benefit without a job in this country but an uneducated politician who doesn't know to write his name is getting perks and cops for protection without any threat to his life.

It is good for people in higher positions working at higher authorities like PM or CM to have high security but a criminal politician getting protection becomes devastating for the common people. The ideology of VIP, a very important person, should be converted into EIP, everyone is an important person.

In fact, politicians and bureaucrats are just people's servants.

As Abraham Lincoln said,

Democracy is a government of the people, by the people, and for the people.