Despite the fact that we are a democracy, some vestiges of our feudal past simply refuse to die. The sordid incident in which Gauri Shankar Bisen, a minister of the BJP government in Madhya Pradesh, made a schoolboy — said to be a tribal — tie his shoelaces adequately shows that. And he did it not once but twice, at a public function, where television cameras too were present in full force. Bisen is a serial offender, having once ordered a government official to do sit-ups in public, but that has not earned him any rebuke from his bosses, much less getting him sacked. The problem is that our ruling class has not been able to shed its “mai baap ” attitude. The VIP syndrome, alive and thriving in independent India, implies that a minister (or any politician, really) is the overlord and all others, including officials, are his serfs who have to do his bidding. The poor citizen is at the very bottom of this hierarchical ladder, making a mockery of democracy. This kind of behaviour is bad enough, but the political class’ complete indifference to the issues it raises is worse. The state’s BJP government has not so far upbraided Bisen on this or even his previous shenanigans; not surprisingly, he may believe he can get away with such behaviour. Public outrage appears to mean nothing to chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, but it’s time he told Bisen this kind of conduct is unbecoming and will not be tolerated any longer.