VVIP gets taste of passenger wrath

Flier was desperate to reach her hometown Patna in time for her brother's funeral

There is no escape from the VVIP menace but hapless citizens, their patience wearing thin, are beginning to give it back to the political class.

A final year medical student blasted Union Minister State for Culture and Tourism KJ Alphons when her flight was held up at Imphal for two hours because of the arrival of President Ram Nath Kovind. Result: she missed her connecting flight from Kolkata.Dr Nirala Singh, who studies at the Regional Institute of Medical Sciences in Imphal, was desperate to reach her hometown Patna in time for her brother's funeral. She spotted the minister with his entourage -- he was taking a flight out of Imphal -- and lashed out at him, clubbing him with other VIPs whose intrusive security often creates havoc for common man.In a video that has gone viral, the woman can be seen screaming at the minister and some others while Alphons is trying to calm her down. "The body is lying there and it will degrade. I am a doctor, I know the body will degrade. It will smell, it is still at my home, I have to go," said the woman in the video while Alphons tries to pacify her.

Denying that he had anything to do with the delay, Alphons said, "The President's flight was landing .... the security protocol has been around for 70 years. The PM and President must be protected and given the highest level of security."

In other words, one can only scream in the face of VVIP culture.