BJP’s change of guard

Mr. Nitin Gadkari’s elevation to the top slot in the BJP has come as a welcome move, a positive step towards reviving the party & taking on a resurrected Congress. The new president’s bio data is better off than many other politicians and his credentials are well known. Add to this, his clean image and out-of-the-box thinking. This man could be the saviour the BJP was looking for. But the going will not be easy.

Being a regional politician, he does not have a mass following, within the BJP or outside. So his primary task will be to penetrate and work with the grass root level of the party. Given his organisational abilities, he might manage it just fine.

Sooner or later, Gadkari will have to project his image in the public domain either as a hindutva hardliner or a moderator. Hence, his decision making abilities would be keenly monitored by all (specially the RSS) . The tough choice for him would be whether to follow the core ideology or compromise it with a moderate approach on issues of national importance.

Next, he would have to battle power-hungry hawks like Arun Jaitley & Sushma Swaraj. Although their oratorical skills are appreciated by one & all, the manner in which they ass licked LK Advani & gained top parliamentary positions is quite sickening & heavily criticized within the party. Being the campaign manager of the party at the 2009 Lok Sabha polls, Arun Jaitley should have taken moral responsibility for the party’s drubbing & stepped out from all positions. So was not the case because at Delhi, the BJP has a parallel power centre run by Jaitley & Swaraj (supported by Venkaiah Naidu) and they pretty much call the shots on all national decisions. The choice for Gadkari is simple – either join the club, or take the bull by its horns.

Thirdly, the silence of BJP’s biggest goon, Mr. Narendra Modi is a little surprising at this point. He seems to have taken a back seat from the BJP centre stage and is focussing on Gujarat for now, though it is only a matter of time before this tiger demands his pound of flesh at the national level. Its an easy guess as to what that position could be – the BJP’s Prime Ministerial candidate for the 2014 polls! How Gadkari tackles Modi will be interesting. But given the fact that both are babies of the RSS, my gut feel says that they would pair well and this combination would work wonders for the party, may be even better than the Sonia-Manmohan partnership that has brought back the Congress to its best in the last two decades.

The speed with which Rahul Gandhi is running a marathon for the Congress, he may well become India’s next prime minister. If the BJP dreams to win the race, all their leaders should collaborate with Gadkari & work together to revive the party. That will be their only chance.

No frill, No fun

Consider this scenario:

A typical day when you catch a flight from New Delhi to Cochin, lets say departure time 1350 hrs from Delhi (a via Hyderabad flight) and arrival time at Cochin 1800 hrs:

• Wake up at 0830 cuz there is a kind of rush, last minute packing etc.
• Start from home by 1130 max. Reach airport at 1245, the airports are generally far away from most of our homes.
• After all the hassles (check-in, security check), board the flight at 1330 (this is the best case scenario, that is if the flight is on time).
• By the time all passengers are on-board and the flight is ready for take off, its 1350.
• Then expect an announcement from the pilot ‘we are No.7 in take off queue which would mean another 35 mins. Although we apologise for the delay, but this is not the fault of the airline…’
• So finally we are off at 1430. After the subsequent delay at Hyderabad, land at cochin at 1845.
• Wait for luggage to reach the terminal (the unions in Kerala take their own sweet time). Luggage arrives at 1910 hrs.
• Drive back home, reach at 2045hrs.

All this makes it a 12 hour ordeal! (a whopping 5.15 hrs spent in the flight, with no food).

Welcome to No frill airline travel in India.

I have been a frequent flier & travelled by almost all the airlines operational in our country today. But my experience says, no frill travel is indeed no fun at all. The tickets may be less expensive (not cheap, but less expensive) than full fledged airlines, but that’s about it.

Everyone is out to take the consumer for a ride. Here’s how:

The Airports Authority of India/Private Operators:

• They charge atrocious taxes under the garb of user development fee/airport development fee etc.
• The Airport services are poor & sub standard as compared to international airports.
• In Tier-II city airports like Pune & Cochin, there would be only two check in counters open, highlighting ‘All Flights’. Invariably, this has & does result in chaos, forcing the airline ticketing lady to announce ‘passengers to Delhi, please come forward’, thereby rushing things up. Next hassle is Security Check. You would find only one queue open for gents & ladies. (ever notice the policeman stare at the hand baggage check screen? I wonder what’s going on in his head).

The No frills:

• Flights often get delayed and on-time performance claims are a complete hogwash (the pilot conveniently passes the buck on the AAI & congestion).
• The average flight delay is 45 mins specially if you are flying into Delhi. First, you are circling the airport for 15 mins because of air traffic congestion. Then post-landing, you are taxing for 15 mins before you reach the terminal, followed by another 15 minutes before you pick up your luggage at the arrival lounge.
• They charge Rs. 200 as Passenger Service fee. What service are they offering? Even food on board is sold at exorbitant prices. Imagine 2 pieces of samosa for Rs. 50 and a regular veg sandwich for Rs. 100! No matter what, we do feel hungry in the flight, compelling us to shell out the money for a quick snack.
• There is absolutely no leg room in the aircraft. In the bargain to accommodate more seats, they totally ignore the seating convenience of the passengers. I am quite certain if given a chance the airlines would not mind to fly passengers standing on the aisle.
• They are not given preference over regular airlines. This is a common feature that Kingfisher, Jet Airways & our sarkaari Air India are always given preference in taking off and landing.
• They falsely claim that they are equipped with CAT III B instrument landing system which enables the aircraft to land in foggy conditions with near 0 visibility. Their pilots are not trained to handle the system either.

But on the flip side, it is also a fact that these no-frills have given the chance to several classes of people to zoom across metros & small cities. Air travel which was once the privilege of the rich, now extends to various strata of society. That’s the only plus I can think of in a pool of minuses.