More equal than others?

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, APRIL 20. If Mr. Raghuvansh Prasad Singh, senior most member of the Rashtriya Janata Dal in the Lok Sabha, had his way the honourable members of Parliament would rather not go through the security routine at the airports that is prescribed for the ordinary citizens. At times colorful and invariably vociferous, Mr. Singh insisted on having his say during question hour in the House this morning; he was protesting that the MPs were being asked to subject themselves to a ``rigorous search'' and this routine of search and frisking was humiliating.

The voluble Mr. Singh neither specified what was ``humiliating'' about the security routine, nor hinted whether the MPs were being made to undergo any additional security drill. Obviously Mr. Singh believes that like some animals on George Orwell's Animal Farm, the MPs are more equal than others.

And the irrepressible Mr. Singh's most lethal argument was that as the Vajpayee Government had failed to prevent the hijacking of an Indian Airlines plane it had no business subjecting MPs to a security routine. A foray into the ``Lalooian'' logic, perhaps.

Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Section  : Front Page
Previous : 'Ready to face armsdrop bid'
Next     : PM 'back to work'