Corrosive and regressive

A RETINUE of junior officers lining up to greet a senior functionary; schoolchildren deployed to greet visiting “VIP” guests; an argument punctuated with the sentence “Don’t you know who I am?” — these three examples from recent incidents are manifestations of the manner in which feudalism remains deeply ingrained in our psyche — vanity ensures that it asserts itself, again and again, even as leaders publicly profess to eschew it.

The officers, who went to receive the chairman of the Railway Board at the Mumbai airport recently, may have expected many things, but not vocal disapproval by the new incumbent, Ashwini Lohani, who had asked for disbanding of such “protocol”. The Railways is among the final holdouts among the Raj bastions where inordinate stress is laid on such matters. Such “protocol” always comes at the cost of individual dignity of subordinate officers. The new boss of the Railway Board has promised changes in the work culture and it is commendable that he is leading by example. 

Then there is the other, more visible and distressing side. A singer recently had an altercation with airline staff members, in a dispute about his luggage being overweight. Harsh words were flung at the officials before the celebrity apologised and was allowed to fly. A celebrity baba was “entitled” to use VIP airport lounges for short stays in domestic airports before he found himself in jail for an extended period. Sense of entitlement comes easily to people of privilege, but seldom is it flaunted as much as it is in India. The red-beacon culture crept in the 1970s and recent attempts to curtail it, by the Supreme Court and even the Prime Minister, have not proved particularly effective. The argument was reduced to the colour of the beacon, with amber replacing the red. There is still a wide chasm in the behaviour patterns of the largest democracy in the world and developed, democratic nations worldwide. Vestigial feudalism is corrosive and regressive. It should have no place in a modern, developed India. Unfortunately, it will be a while before it is eliminated from our public life.