The VIP culture is entrenched in the Indian ethos. The practice of exclusivity, where the importance of the political, cultural, economic and social elites is contingent upon the distance they are perceived to maintain from the masses, has a stranglehold on nearly every aspect of Indian life — be it accessing government services, the availability of medical facilities like hospital beds, oxygen and vaccines, securing admission for children to private educational institutions, special entry at places of worship, dedicated passageways on busy roads, security drill privileges at airports, different enclosures at cricket matches and recreational events, prison privileges for the influential and so on. These inequalities are rooted in the hierarchical structure of Indian society. The Narendra Modi government had taken a few symbolic initiatives in this regard; it had, for instance, banned red beacons on vehicles in 2017 to eliminate ‘lal batti-raj’. However, such cosmetic measures, as is to be expected, did not have much effect on the realities on the ground.
Unsurprisingly, a recent survey by Local Circles has found that two in three Indians find VIP culture to be all-pervasive. The survey, which covered 8,881 respondents across 362 districts in the past three years, revealed that 46% found that VIP culture is intact; 14% believed that it had, in fact, risen significantly. Interestingly, 91% of those who have travelled by road attested to experiencing VIP culture, 83% found government offices to be afflicted by VIP treatment; the same held true of public and private events (79%), religious places (73%) and hospitals. The resultant inconveniences this discrimination causes to the general populace are as commonplace as they are shameful. In the recent fire accident at a hospital in Jhansi that killed 10 newborns, roads leading to the hospital were marked for a VVIP visit by a minister even as parents struggled to collect the bodies of their deceased babies. The occasional righteous noises that politicians make about circumventing the practice — such as Assam scrapping the free electricity facility for ministers and public servants — are not enough: more substantial interventions are needed to change the prevailing mindset. Discrimination between citizens is a violation of the rule of equality enshrined in the Constitution. The Supreme Court’s upcoming hearing of a plea for abolishing special treatment for VIPs in temples assumes significance in light of the institutionalisation of India’s nauseating VIP culture.