Modi’s Mann Ki Baat: No to VIP, yes to EPI
NEWDELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi suggested on Sunday changing VIP to EPI or every person is important, underscoring the need to change people’s mindset over snobbish symbols of power such as red beacons that his government has banned.
The government decided this April to ban red beacons or the coveted “lal batti” atop cars of the President, Prime Minister and down to the bureaucrats from May 1, ending a privilege that was seen as the ultimate status symbol since the British rulers introduced it.
“The exit of the red beacon is part of a system. But we have to make efforts to cleanse it out of our minds. If we collectively strive to do it with eternal vigilance, it surely can be flushed out,” said Modi in his Mann Ki Baat radio address.
Only emergency services such as ambulance and fire engines have been exempted from flashing beacons to cut through traffic.
“In a way it had become a symbol of the VIP culture. Whereas the red beacon used to be fixed atop the vehicle, slowly and steadily it permeated into the psyche and got firmly entrenched in the mindset,” Modi said.
“The red beacon is gone for good but nobody can say with certainty that the same in the mindset has also disappeared.”
The Prime Minister narrated a message from one of his followers to point out how people are happy that now they don’t have to stop for anyone or get caught in traffic snarls because of VIP movements.