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AFTER going through the editorial ‘‘Promoting VIPism’’ (November 22), I feel VIPism is a legacy of the British days and the present-day politicians and bureaucrats think that they are the rightful heirs of the British days — His Majesty’s government and the old civil service. With the same customs, same rules about the procedure of the right of precedence in government ranks are prevailing as during the Raj-days, no matter that it is a free democracy now and has a people’s government.

The civil service has an entirely different function to perform, and the politician is answerable to the people with whose votes he has come to power. But he forgets about all this immediately after he is elevated to power. The bureaucrat thinks that he is the actual government because the politician keeps on changing whereas he is perpetually in power, which is not diminished by any procedures.

The real masters, “We the people of India” are turned into the common man whereas the politician and the bureaucrat become the VVIPs and VIPs. The politician considers the voter (the common man) just like a sugarcane, which is turned into a ‘‘fog” once its juice ( the vote) is extracted.

It is a very dangerous development which these politicians have not cared to understand because even socially a new order of the class of society has emerged which is against Gandhism and even Pandit Nehru’s thought of socialism. This social order has emerged in four classes — VVIPs, VIPs the common man and the poor man.

Although it is better to do away with this new caste system as early as possible, I do not agree with the conclusion that the days of VIPism are numbered. Rather it is gaining strength day by day, as is clear from the action of the Delhi government as pointed by you.

Freedom of expression

Mr Karam Chand deserves to be complimented for his excellent letter, “Right to debate and differ” (Nov 27), emphasising that “freedom of expression” and the right to differ were the very pith and marrow of democracy, and that eternal vigilance was the price the citizens have to pay to preserve the vital democratic freedoms. I fully share and whole-heartedly endorse the point adumbrated in the well-argued letter.

Sadly but incontrovertibly, the things on the front in question in “democratic India” leave much to be desired. There is no denying the fact that the country’s Constitution gives the citizen the right to “freedom of expression”. The vital question is: does the guy enjoy “freedom after expression” also? The answer is a big “NO”, as the letter-writer has conclusively proved by citing numerous pertinent examples. Bluntly speaking, the rule in the country is: disagree with the powers that be and be damned! How sad, indeed!

TARA CHAND
Ambota (Una)

This refers to the report “IAF pilot killed in Zirakpur MiG crash” (December 4).

In the past few years the IAF has lost a number of MiG 21s owing to the rising graph of accidents. These planes were inducted into the IAF in the late sixties as they were the best fighting machines then. But today these machines are old enough and urgently require to be equipped with modern gadgets and better avionics facilities. Despite their being highly accident-prone, Air Force pilots have to fly them even at the risk of their lives.

What is more tragic is that the IAF has lost more than 100 pilots in such accidents. The frequency of such accidents shows that the planes have outlived their usefulness. Two-three years back the government had planned to provide them with better equipment. But this is still a far cry.

The government spent crores of rupees in the Sukhoi-30 deal last year. But what is the use of buying such state-of-the-art planes if we do not have enough money for their overhauling and maintenance. Instead of buying more new planes, the government should concentrate more on the maintenance of such planes as the MiG-21s and Jaguars, which are mostly in the news for accidents. Surprisingly, the government is tight-lipped on the subject.

	M A I L B A G	Wednesday, December 8, 1999
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