If used in the context of members of Parliament ducking a principled position against the disgusting misbehaviour of one of their clan, that caption could certainly provoke charges of a breach of privilege. That, however, would only add emphasis to the point being made that there is a vast perception gap between the “people”, and those who claim to represent them, when under focus are the standards of behaviour expected of those who wish to be hailed as “lawmakers”. The issue in point being the beating up of an Air-India official by the Shiv Sena member of the Lok Sabha, Ravindra Gaikwad.
The facts of the case are not in dispute, the MP has taken pride in declaring he wielded his slipper 25 times, declaring he was a member of the Shiv Sena, not the BJP, and would tolerate no infringement of his authority.
While it is true that no other MP has condoned his aggression, the fact that their criticism has been muted, merely token, and no formal probe/inquiry has been demanded points to a disturbing trend ~ that in addition to MPs circling the wagons in a bid at self-protection, larger political considerations are also at play. Comparisons are proverbially odious, yet it must be asked if Gaikwad’s action brought Parliament into less disrepute than what was recently done by a member of the Aam Aadmi Party ~ for which a special committee of the Lok Sabha had been constituted.
Why is there no official communication about whether the matter will be examined by the Ethics Committee; the Speaker is reported to have said she had no jurisdiction since the incident did not take place in Parliament’s premises. And when, for once, several domestic airlines joined forces with the “national carrier” in saying the MP would not be accommodated on their flights two ministers of state, for law and civil aviation, questioned the legality of the airlines’ decision. No wonder that Gaikwad, and some associates, have been further emboldened, and have tried to link his violent conduct with the poor quality of service provided to passengers. Could there be anything more shameful?
It must be stressed that the majority of the 790 MPs do not behave as Gaikwad did, yet their reluctance to take him to task lends itself to interpretation that the lal batti culture knows no limits.
In the wake of the action at Delhi airport, newspapers have been listing a series of other instances which suggest that the ‘MP’ suffix  could be expanded to represent a licence to maaro peeto. In the absence of any codification of the privileges legislators enjoy, a lapse that is as old as the Constitution, some consider themselves a class apart. What is increasingly clear is they no longer merit the prefix “honourable”.