VIPs on the roads and streets : Road rogues and menace
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: January 16, 2013 -

Road rogues, that is what they are.

The roads and streets of Imphal continue to stand as mute spectators to the menace scripted by that class of people who come under the tag of VIP and the uniformed personnel.

Screaming sirens, flag posts, security escorts with huge lung power shouting and waving their lathis so that the lesser mortals can give way to their masters and nothing can be more demeaning to the collective psyche of the people than this.

From the kurta clad politicians to their hangers on to the uniformed people who may come clad in khakis or olives, these are the set of people who have come under the impression that the roads and streets are their personal fiefdom. Damn the sensibilities of the others.

The allegations raised by the Tangkhul Katamnao Saklong, Imphal in connection with the hit and run case of December 18, 2012 in which one man was knocked down and killed by a VIP vehicle at North AOC is a case in point.

Safely rode away after knocking down the man through Kangla and the allegations raised by the student body comes uncomfortably close to the numerous stories of how the high and mighty always manage to escape the long arm of the law by sheer dint of the positions they occupy.

This is how the road rogues progress to the next stage to become killers on the road. Now that an ultimatum has been submitted to the Chief Minister, it is only right that the law be allowed to take its course. Cracking the case should be easy, provided the Government is sincere enough.

Establishing the identities of the personnel on sentry duty at Kangla on the AOC side at that point of time would not need any genius and the key in the case would lie here.

Obviously no motorist would want to knock down a pedestrian to death. This is why it is called accident and not murder.

But when a mentality develops to such an extent that a few class of people, who come under the VIP tag, can throw their weight around on the roads and get away after knocking down someone to death, then the term ‘accident’ may just be a little too mild.

The sense of immunity and impunity that comes along with the tag of a VIP has become too gross and there is nothing to gloss over this.

The bully mentality is palpable and everyone knows who a bully is. A coward at heart, who will roar and growl at his subordinates but will mew and grovel in front of his equal or superior.

Examples should be set from the top. How has Kangla been turned into a thorough fare for the siren and flag post fitted vehicles ? The whiff of an Apartheidic approach is unmistakable.

Maybe this question would sound silly in the face of the fact that even the Chief Minister himself has not hesitated in using this route for his cavalcade.

Abuse of power and authority, nothing less. Having said this, it is incumbent on the Government to book the VIP as well as the people responsible for covering up his track in connection with the December 18, 2012 hit and run case at North AOC.

Perhaps this may go some distance in reining in the road rogues.