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Especially in our smaller, less cluttered airports, the list cannot be missed. It details all the categories of persons who shall not be subject to a security check before embarking for their flights. It is, by evidence of the number of persons desperate to be included in its ambit, an object of aspiration. This list came under scrutiny once again last week when Defence Minister A.K. Antony disclosed that the civil aviation authorities had turned down a request by the armed forces that their chiefs too should be given exemption from the security drill. This has brought howls of outrage. How could the men who symbolise the defence of India not be shown good faith at the security barrier? Does this not amount to mistrusting our soldiers? This indignation is understandable, but it obscures the main issue: is there room in a modern democracy for such a list in the first place?

This is not about the men and women who get preferential treatment because of measures like this list. It is about a system in which two sets of formal rules operate: one for the VIP and another for the aam aadmi. It is operationalised in a myriad ways; in exemptions meted out at highway toll plazas, for example. And taken together, it tidily divides people into two categories: the rulers and the ruled. It denotes a barrier between the two. The rulers, whose duties bring to them a democratic roster of responsibilities and accountability, are instead positioned above the lawful procedures in place for other citizens.

The Armed Forces in India have always seen their chiefs as the first among equals in their forces. A direct chain of command is never put up for compromise. But through a number of ceremonies and conventions the chiefs interact with their forces in a way to assert camaraderie along the entire hierarchy. This spirit of equality must militate against the gradation of privileges encoded in exemptions from security drill. The demand, therefore, should not be for the chiefs to be added to the list. It is the list itself that should be scrapped.