MP Vivek Tankha Complains To Airline About VIP Treatment. He Did Not Want It

New Delhi: A parliamentarian who took a SpiceJet flight on Wednesday has complained to the private airline. Not because he didn't receive "VIP treatment" but because he did. He has called it "extremely embarrassing".

Vivek Tankha, a Congress Rajya Sabha member, wrote to the airline today objecting to special treatment after he landed in Delhi from Jabalpur.

"We are living in a democratic country where every person is equally respected and important," he said in a jaw-dropping expression of discomfiture at privileges that many of his colleagues take for granted.

He said that after he and another parliamentarian boarded a transit bus, the doors were "abruptly shut" to other passengers and "the three of us were exclusively ferried."

Mr Tankha said he strongly felt that an MP "is like any other passenger" and should expect the same courtesy offered to other passengers.

"As a concerned citizen I feel that there is no need to extend such extra courtesy to any Member of Parliament or any VVIP/VIP. As public representatives we should receive the same treatment as extended to other passengers. I found this extra courtesy extremely embarrassing. I immediately requested the ground staff not to extend such VIP treatment to us or anybody else," he wrote to the airline.

He suggested that the "excessive courtesy" be "discontinued with immediately effect for all VIPs (or at least to me) - barring if there are some very genuine or compelling security/health considerations."

In recent months, resentment against "VIP culture" in India has provoked protests and campaigns on social media.

Last year, an Air India flight was delayed and passengers were off-loaded to accommodate a union minister in a stand-out example of "VIP culture".

Below is the full text of the letter he wrote to SpiceJet: