Nitish Kumar faces ‘VIP culture’ protest at airport

New Delhi: Protesting what he called “VIP culture”, an angry passenger sat down on the front seat of the golf cart that carried Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar at Terminal 3 at the Delhi airport on Saturday night. When he refused to move in spite of the security personnel asking him to get down, he was allowed to go in the cart till the immigration counter where he got down. Although there are walkalators and escalators at the airport, the T3 being long, VIPs are often taken in golf carts till immigration counters. There are 30 such battery operated carts available at the Delhi airport.

According to the sources, Mr Kumar faced the angry passenger while he was trying to avail buggy service meant for VIPs and the elderly at Terminal 3. As Mr Kumar sat in the cart after arriving from Mumbai, another passenger came and sat in the front seat and started shouting ‘No VIP culture’.

At this, the security personnel requested him to get down but he refused. The security staff did not say anything and allowed him to sit.

Mr Kumar, however, got down at the international lounge while the passenger went on till the immigration counter.

“The incident occurred on Saturday night at around 10 pm, when Mr Kumar arrived on Air India flight AI 310 from Mumbai. He deboarded from the gate number 8 where a buggy was waiting for him. This passenger had arrived on the same flight, and sat on the front seat of the cart,” said a security official on the condition of anonymity. The Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), which is responsible for the security at airport, said since the passenger was not violent, they did not use force and even the CM did not object.