The Shiv Sena’s backing of its Member of Parliament Ravindra Gaikwad, who assaulted an Air India staffer, is hardly surprising. The party has to its record a string of such strongarm actions, though in recent times the Sena has sought to moderate its image under Uddhav Thackeray and his son, Aditya. Individuals are prone to err but the strength of the parliamentary mechanism is that political parties have enough clout and powers to rein in those who depart from constitutional and political ethics. Instead, the Shiv Sena has taken it upon itself the responsibility of defending Gaikwad rather than distancing itself from his abhorrent actions. Besides raising the issue in Parliament, the party has also called a bandh in Osmanabad, Gaikwad’s constituency.
What is more shocking than the Shiv Sena’s defence of its abusive MP is the attitude of Opposition party leaders who condemned the ban on the Parliamentarian from flying. It is praiseworthy that civil aviation minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju has stood by the Air India action. Raju said that he did not expect even in his “wildest dreams” that a member of Parliament would “be caught in a violent act”. He emphasised that an MP was also a passenger and had to abide by airline rules. But the Congress and Samajwadi Party attempted to turn the tables on the government by accusing it of backing a ban on a member of Parliament. This manner of invoking parliamentary privilege only serves to undermine the credibility of Parliament. The MPs would have been better off discussing the VVIP status enjoyed by the political class that entitles them to privileges that are unwarranted and not available to elected representatives in other democracies.
In the end, the serious issue of an MP assaulting an ordinary citizen doing his job became a play of cold electoral calculations for the Opposition in its attempt to drive a wedge between the BJP and the Shiv Sena. Perhaps, the MPs would have been better off discussing the need to introduce proper regulations giving legal sanctity to a no-fly list. Currently, the DGCA allows passengers who are likely to be unruly” to be “refused embarkation or off-loaded”, which Air India and a federation of airlines has invoked in Gaikwad’s case. Across India, there is resentment growing over the VIP status that the political and bureaucratic class has cornered for itself. Recently, Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh took note of this and ordered all red beacons to be taken off government vehicles. In December 2013, the Supreme Court has banned the use of red beacons except by constitutional functionaries. However, the judgment has hardly been implemented and failed because it was attacking a symptom, rather than the cause of the disease.
It is time to audit the privileges that public servants have lavished upon themselves. In the absence of checks and balances, public servants have embraced a culture of entitlement effectively rendering ordinary citizens an inferior lot. The craving for preferential treatment has validated the criticism that only the colour of the rulers changed in post-Independent India. Air India deserves praise for standing by its staffer and must assist him if he prefers to proceed with the criminal case against Gaikwad.
