“FRISKED AT THE AIRPORT? THAT’S RUDE!”

As ridiculous as the demand had seemed when it was made, it only seems more ridiculous that it has been ceded to. The defence chiefs have been added to the list of those exempted from security checks at airports. The government wasted absolutely no time in yielding to the displeasure expressed by those responsible for the nation’s security at being frisked at airports.

My question is not to the Civil Aviation Minister Mr. Praful Patel who promptly defended the move as imperative so as not to dishonour the defence chiefs, but to the three men in uniform who ought to be more aware of the security concerns of a nation ripped apart by violence from the internal communal divide, than any other legislative, judicial or executive representative of the democratic machinery.

Not once do I want to seem as questioning the integrity of those in whom the security of the nation rests! My concern lies not in the exemption of these men from being frisked at airports but from the fact that this would pave the way for an array of applications for immunity of a similar nature from other quarters.

The defence chiefs are justifying their demand, by citing the example of Robert Vadra—more known as the son in law of the iconic Nehru-Gandhi family— who got away without being frisked at the airport. But instead of pulling up the ministry on this irregularity, we’ve gone all out and supported the act by including some more to the exempted list.

Where does this perfidy of the civil aviation ministry, which remains a soft target for terrorist attacks, leave the security of the ‘Aam Junta’ that travels with these men and women who claim to be absolved of all perfunctory security checks by virtue of the position they enjoy within the fabric of democracy?

Instead of condemning the grounds on which Vadra is deemed beyond scrutiny at airports, we give in to the diplomatic drama that unfolds there-from.

And now that service chiefs have made it to the list, should we continue in our apathetic mode until there are a few hundred more such applications that come up for exemption on the same lines — that such mandatory security checks are derisive of the privileges they enjoy in India? Or should we wait until our skies are threatened by some terror group to take action?

Which of the two is more disdainful— the special privilege accorded to a nondescript Robert Vadra by virtue of his affiliation to a political family or the exemplification of the act by the highest ranking men in the services to earn a similar privilege— would depend upon individual sensibilities, but the underlying fact remains that neither was done in the interest of the nation.