How do you know you’re a neta? When everybody treats you like a Fabergé egg that must not be left out in the sun too long, that’s how. India’s political culture comes fitted with an iron frame of protocol that must be followed at all times, especially by service officers.
Super cops and daredevils, please understand. When you don’t, it can be disconcerting for netas. For how else can they tell themselves from the hoi polloi, the great unwashed and unelected? No wonder breaches are taken seriously.
So when Rishiraj Singh, an IPS officer, failed to get up and salute Kerala home minister Ramesh Chennithala, tempers ran high. Chief minister Oommen Chandy took note on July 13 of the “disrespect” shown to his minister and promised “suitable action” against the officer. Singh might protest that he did not see the minister, who had entered from a back entrance, but the political establishment is having none of it.
Here are some examples of mind-your-protocol that Singh might have learnt from:
1. Only this May, Bastar district collector Amit Kataria made so bold as to receive the prime minister wearing smart casuals and sunglasses. An Orwellian government notice went out immediately, “We have noticed that you failed to wear the ceremonial dress [rasami poshakh in Hindi] and wore sunglasses when you received the Prime Minister, which was not in keeping with Rule 3(1) of the All India Service (Conduct) Rules 1968.” Ceremonial attire apparently involves a bandh gala or a safari suit, never mind the 40 degree heat or the fact that Modi himself wore glares for a meeting the next day.
2. Maharashtra DGP Sanjeev Dayal has also shown a reprehensible lack of respect in the past. In 2010, he made visiting US President Barack Obama’s cavalcade wait for over 11 minutes as he refused to give route clearance. Escorting Atal Bihari Vajpayee in Lahore in 1999, he stalled the prime minister’s cavalcade for hours as there had been no route clearance by the local police. He was vindicated. The team sent to carry out the clearance was ambushed.
3. Precedence is big with ministers and ex-ministers. There was hell to pay in Chandrapur last year, for instance. During the Republic Day flag hoisting ceremony at the Police Grounds, administrative and police officers got the plum front row seats while politicians and MLAs were relegated to the back or to less prominent places. Congress and NCP politicians staged a “boycott” and expressed “hurt” at the fact that a former Union minister had been refused a front row seat.
4. The travelling MP is a fragile creature who must be handled with care. Airport personnel in various parts of the country have discovered this only too late, after they tried to conduct security checks and irate MPs brandished protocol at them. But most are not, in fact, exempt from the regular procedures. Recently, the union home ministry reportedly asked the Central Industrial Security Force, which mans the airports, to publish the names of MPs who had tried to bully security staff. So far, this has had limited success. Earlier this month, union minister Kiren Rijiju reportedly delayed an Air India flight and had a family offloaded so he could get a seat. Rijiju has apologised.
But we’re waiting for the next time someone tries to security check an Indian neta.
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Super cops and daredevils, please understand. When you don’t, it can be disconcerting for netas. For how else can they tell themselves from the hoi polloi, the great unwashed and unelected? No wonder breaches are taken seriously.
So when Rishiraj Singh, an IPS officer, failed to get up and salute Kerala home minister Ramesh Chennithala, tempers ran high. Chief minister Oommen Chandy took note on July 13 of the “disrespect” shown to his minister and promised “suitable action” against the officer. Singh might protest that he did not see the minister, who had entered from a back entrance, but the political establishment is having none of it.
Here are some examples of mind-your-protocol that Singh might have learnt from:
1. Only this May, Bastar district collector Amit Kataria made so bold as to receive the prime minister wearing smart casuals and sunglasses. An Orwellian government notice went out immediately, “We have noticed that you failed to wear the ceremonial dress [rasami poshakh in Hindi] and wore sunglasses when you received the Prime Minister, which was not in keeping with Rule 3(1) of the All India Service (Conduct) Rules 1968.” Ceremonial attire apparently involves a bandh gala or a safari suit, never mind the 40 degree heat or the fact that Modi himself wore glares for a meeting the next day.
2. Maharashtra DGP Sanjeev Dayal has also shown a reprehensible lack of respect in the past. In 2010, he made visiting US President Barack Obama’s cavalcade wait for over 11 minutes as he refused to give route clearance. Escorting Atal Bihari Vajpayee in Lahore in 1999, he stalled the prime minister’s cavalcade for hours as there had been no route clearance by the local police. He was vindicated. The team sent to carry out the clearance was ambushed.
3. Precedence is big with ministers and ex-ministers. There was hell to pay in Chandrapur last year, for instance. During the Republic Day flag hoisting ceremony at the Police Grounds, administrative and police officers got the plum front row seats while politicians and MLAs were relegated to the back or to less prominent places. Congress and NCP politicians staged a “boycott” and expressed “hurt” at the fact that a former Union minister had been refused a front row seat.
4. The travelling MP is a fragile creature who must be handled with care. Airport personnel in various parts of the country have discovered this only too late, after they tried to conduct security checks and irate MPs brandished protocol at them. But most are not, in fact, exempt from the regular procedures. Recently, the union home ministry reportedly asked the Central Industrial Security Force, which mans the airports, to publish the names of MPs who had tried to bully security staff. So far, this has had limited success. Earlier this month, union minister Kiren Rijiju reportedly delayed an Air India flight and had a family offloaded so he could get a seat. Rijiju has apologised.
But we’re waiting for the next time someone tries to security check an Indian neta.