ON A weekday last month, there was a huge traffic jam on the Sardar Patel Marg (New Delhi). As you would often expect on Indian roads, one of the scooterists ingeniously managed to move his two-wheeler in style whilst the traffic was standstill and announced from behind his helmet that a senior cabinet minister was coming by that side to attend a seminar. Later, I came to know that he was right and the venue of the conference was a five star hotel on that very road. 

 

Oddly enough, the subject of the seminar was ‘How to save the earth’! While the enlightened souls assembled to discuss the worldly affairs, thousands of smoke-spewing vehicles that emit high-levels of sulphur and the toxic carbon monoxide (CO) remained stranded to make way for the honourable minister to reach the conference venue! Aghast with life, I looked up for some heavenly solace only to find streetlights dotting the entire stretch.

 

A couple of days later, while I was returning from the office, I again encountered a huge traffic jam on the same road. The traffic police was busy diverting vehicles. A hassled traffic constable informed us that a well-known newspaper editor was hosting his daughter’s wedding and all the VIPs and the VVIPs were busy reaching the venue one after the other. After all, who would want to rub a powerful newspaper editor of the country the in wrong way and fail to turn up even if the editor is theoretically against pomposity and show of wealth?

 

Watching haplessly as cars and jeeps ferried faceless VIPs even on wrong sides and Delhi traffic police and other paramilitary personnel saluting, I remembered a news item that I read recently. Apparently, in its communication to the ministry of shipping, road transport and highways, the house committee of the Rajya Sabha, headed by J P Aggarwal, sought to know why parliamentarians were not allowed to use beacon light that was seen as a status symbol on their cars, something that was extended to the top notch bureaucrats of the states and the union government. The ministry, which is understood to be reluctant, is yet to reply to the committee’s recommendation.

 

I’m sure that while this issue is still being debated, Aggarwal and his fellow members in the committee were among the VIPs attending the famous wedding in that five star hotel with beacon lights illuminating their vehicles.

 

Incidentally in the US, the traffic flows uninterrupted along the fences of the White House. When George Bush moves in his cavalcade, traffic is never held up for more than three minutes.

 

Having managed to reach the Brar Square via the Ring Road after several diversions, the vehicular movement once again came to a grinding halt and the wait looked eternal. Even the scooters couldn’t move an inch and no one knew the reason behind the hold-up! As one FM radio programme said that the traffic jam was ‘bumper-to-bumper’. Absurdly, even at ten at the night, there was hardly any functional streetlight on the Cariappa Marg. 

 

Both these incidents underline one thing. In a banana republic like ours where VIPs demand the first right to use everything and the common man has to wait even if it costs his life. Imagine what would have happened to those who wanted to reach the airport or the Army Base Hospital on that dreadful night.

 

In other countries, when its governments call on their citizens to save electricity, you could expect its politicians and bureaucrats to lead by example, but not in India. Our rulers always get their priorities wrong largely due to the skewed and haphazard nature of governance. It’s normal for them to squander whatever meager resources this country has.

 

Think about it: The honourable minister would have definitely made a lofty speech on issues like global warming, climate change and how his government is taking steps for controlling greenhouse gases in order to protect the poor from natural disasters. 

 

Similarly, the high profile newspaper editor would have spent tons of rims criticising the likes of Jayalalithaa and Lalu Prasad Yadav for lavishly spending money on their family weddings and their lack of probity in public life. Incidentally, he never fails to express his strong dislikes for Delhi’s ‘VIP culture’ and its crassness. In one of his articles, he wrote: “VIP-hood is not so much a matter of avoiding inconvenience as of flaunting status.” He further added, “An assault on the VIP culture is now long overdue!!”