Bangladesh’s VIPs are more equal than others

‘All animals are equal but some are more equal than others’. This quote occurs in George Orwell’s allegorical satire, Animal’s Farm. It takes no time for the readers to understand that in this allegory there are animals which are more privileged than the others. That Orwell’s observation is true for many human societies, more particularly Bangladesh society, is perhaps best illustrated by the country’s existing VIP ‘culture’ if it can at all be called a ‘culture’, since bad practices do not make culture.
There are separate laws, or laws do not exist for these specially blessed human beings. They can go, at their own sweet will, through the forbidden opposite side of a road with a sense of being ‘alighted’ with power and honour; a launch can be kept waiting for hours together for a government official to catch it even if it can cause death to a patient that needs to be hurriedly transported to the capital for treatment. A VIP’s time must have to be saved!
In the International Trade Fair, you have a gate for the VIPs where the gatekeepers escort you to enter the fair compound unlike those damned ‘common’ people who have to wait for long in long queues.
Now we have in the capital’s Ramna Park two different schedules, a slot for the common people and the other slot for the blessed government officials. The notice hanging at the gate of the park declares that the park is open to people from 6am to 11am in the morning and from 2.30pm to 7.30pm in the evening. But it was reportedly found on a spot visit that in between these two periods — that is from 11am to 2.30 pm — families and individuals inside the park were cycling, walking and enjoying their time in plushy nature. Well, they are those ‘more than equal’ human beings, the government officials, who can have their special VIP hours.
Some among these blessed are also those who pay the ‘right’ price to enter the green space. Since the park is owned by the Public Works Department (PWD), it is also managed by this entity which has planned two different time schedules for people: one for the VIPs and the other for the downtrodden. And you give bribes to the gatekeepers, they are members of Ansar, and you can also have a VIP’s honour.
George Orwell is a master of an allegory writer who makes timeless observations. Their insights into ugly sides of human nature do not become clichés. See how he perfectly fits Dhaka’s Ramna Park!