Our humble public servant, Ravindra Gaikwad, Member of Parliament from Osmanabad had to undergo unnecessary public outrage, falsely tagged as ‘Chappal Gate’.
Air India staff and management had the temerity to ban such a soft spoken public servant, from future flights. Other domestic airlines were churlish enough to follow suit!
Aviation Minister Ganapathi Raju had wrongly understood the situation and said that ‘in his wildest dreams he could not have dreamt of such an incident’. These remarks should be expunged from the parliamentary records.
Anyway, he was put into his place by a few very reasonable Shiv Sena MPs. Amit Shah rang up Uddhav Thackeray to invite him for the NDA dinner. After all, we should not forget that the presidential elections are around the corner.
All this uncalled for national ballyhoo caused the hardworking MP from Osmanabad, immense trouble in commuting between Delhi and his constituency. The cause of law making was hurt by his absence from the hallowed premises.
We all know that PM Modi ji and CM Yogi ji burn the midnight oil. But the media has not kept us informed about the real hardships and sacrifices the other public servants make, towards nation building. Just look at their measly salaries and perks!
That a high percentage of these law makers have criminal records, is a minor blip. A deshdrohi obsession of the middle class.
Certainly, our parliamentarians deserve a better deal. A token improvement is coming up in the shape of stately apartments near Rashtrapati Bhawan, commanding a view of the Moghul Gardens, as reported in the press. Some eyebrows are raised, but don’t our new Moghuls need better habitats?
The cause of the country can be better served, if the tax payer does everything to make their life a bit comfortable, so that they can function peacefully in the Parliament, and get down to the business of law making.
Rajya Sabha has its own 24-hour RS TV channel. Lok Sabha has its 24-hour LS TV channel. The ‘Chappal Gates’ of the future can be easily avoided, if Parliament launches an airline, ‘Maharaja Airlines’ of its own. Then the contamination of the MPs, by flying with the obnoxious common man can be avoided. They can fly at their convenience and hold up flights for any personal reason. Poor Dola Sen, the TMC Member of Parliament was forced to lose her cool. All this can be avoided.
The airline should have a large fleet of corporate style Jetstream aircrafts, with all the luxuries at their command. The cabin crew could be their handpicked time servers. Strict quota system should be applied, when it comes to recruiting pilots. Quotas and reservations have been such vital part of their election campaigns. They would love to be flown by a quota pilot, keeping in step with their campaigns.
After thought: Isn’t it time to officially change the misunderstood expression – ‘public servants’? Shall we come closer to reality and used the more realistic expression – ‘public masters’!
S.K. Saksena
(The views expressed by the author in the article are his/her own.)
