On Robert Vadra, Security Checks and VIP Culture

Post triggered by a notice-board I spotted at Guwahati airport (pl click below to enlarge; take note of the last name on the list)

Robert Vadra Secuity Checks

I wonder why Sh Robert Vadra is exempted from pre-embarkation security checks when he is with “SPG Protectees”? Would it be embarrassing to Priyanka to see her husband being frisked by “ordinary” security personnel? Would it embarrass the children to see their father being “security checked” in public? Or would it embarrass the other “SPG Protectees” he may be travelling with to see him being so checked?

Or is it simply because he is someone “special” and this is a statement of how “special”

I remembered how just a day earlier – at the end of an interaction with a group of enthusiastic youngsters on 3rd Jun in Guwahati – we were discussing how each one of us can make a difference by doing small things – things that may appear insignificant or minor but which make a statement – such as stopping at a red light and/or accepting the fine/punishment for violating traffic rules (even if you are a VIP/ senior govt officer).

Robert Vadra – if he had so wished – could have made a very powerful statement against our “VIP culture” by a simple gesture of refusing exemption from the pre-boarding security checks – just like millions of us do at airports around the country.

It is a shame he chose not to.

B Shantanu

Political Activist, Blogger, Advisor to start-ups, Seed investor. One time VC and ex-Diplomat. Failed mushroom farmer; ex Radio Jockey. Currently involved in Reclaiming India - One Step at a Time.

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13 Responses

  1. Indian says:

    Nehru family is very shrewed and know-how to dominate the public and its politicians silently. They show very magnanimous polite calculative gestures to charm the public; and to use that favored gestures in return to maintain their superiority. Abusing the system,and the public begins from them. India will only rise once they start believing in them rather than in this family. They have duped us till now. It is very unfortunate that people cannot understand this simple tactics of Nehru family and run after them. Shameful and very sad!

  2. amreekandesi says:

    Umm…maybe we shouldn’t be too surprised. After all, doesn’t this family own our country?

  3. quietist says:

    curiously, #31 is needlessly included on the list since #30 exempts all SPG protectees, obviously no thought went in while the list was prepared

  4. Dear Shantanu

    This might be the best place to suggest this, since anyone else interested could also join. The Guwahati Freedom Partners group has started assembling. It is very small now, but you could suggest to the people you met during your trip that they could join this group. The aim will be to hold periodic meetings on the ground and discuss options for action on matters such as the one cited on this post. I’m sure a solution will be found to the mess that is India, if sufficient number of people organise for change.

    The address of the Guwahati Freedom Partners group: http://groups.google.com/group/freedom-partners-guwahati

    Regards
    Sanjeev

  5. Gypsy says:

    The Son in law also Rises seems to be the new maxim in India! Where else such blatant nepotism could go on? I hope that the graphic expose’ done by you gathers momentum and Mr. Vadra is treated like all the rest of Indians. But then, with the power some people over the shackled minds of Indians, Mr Vadra could well be made the President of India to be placed on the top of the list on the board displayed in your blog.

  6. Madhusudan says:

    I suspect he is carrying things with him which should not be checked when he goes to the the land of BODOland, to meet his xtian-brothers who are fighting to free their land from ‘sinister’ India.

    @Shantanu, sorry for the maligning comment on Vadra, but I feel really bad for the people of our culture living in North-east who are suffering at the hands of the xtian terrorists.

    Wish I could do something…

  7. ashwani says:

    national son-in-law.hurray

  8. Beena says:

    The people who suck up to the G family is to be blamed. Obviously, the Congressis and their chamchas are the main culprits. The nation wont prosper till we enshackle ourselves of the colonial yoke.

  9. Umesh K Dubey says:

    Actually similar signs are up in airports across the country. I notice this everytine I queue up at Kolkata airport and wait in the line for security.

    There can be more bizarre ‘angles’ to this.If you see the list – numbers 1 to 30 are mentioned by their position / office or by virtue of having held office – viz President / Vice President / Ex PM etc. Only number 31 mentions an individual by Name !

    Now let us put another twist. God forbidding their is a falling out and the Vadras seperate. What happens then

    More than blaming the Family, it is the ‘chamcha’ mentality of us Indians – which prevents us from rising from the filth of our own creation. The guy who issued this “Office Order” does deserve something special.

  10. Dirt Digger says:

    Nice to see the Dalai Lama 2 positions ahead of Robert Vadra.

  11. this is an article in indian express about the issue

  12. bhai says:

    His name is still on the list. I was at Tirupati recently and his name features on the list there too.

    So, what? Sure, He’s indeed more important than people who die for our country (like the army men). After all, he’s the son-in-law of the Gandhi family and may not want to live in ignonimity like Indira’s husband – Pheroz Gandhy (yes, that was his sirname). Many people still think MK Gandhi had some connection with the Nehru family. Marrying a Gandhy and changing it to Gandhi was indeed a smart move, which foxes the illiterate population of India even today. They call it the Nehru – Gandhi family, with MK Gandhi’s photo on every pamplet to establish the brand connection/ association with a morally bankrupt Congress-I.

    So, robert vadra is more important than tax payers like you and me; and due to absence of security checks; can carry a lot of stuff on his person which you & me cannot. Remember he is a businessman in the metal artefacts & antiques trade!

  13. Hope the new Govt gets him off this list