New Delhi: Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan’s new official car is a white Jaguar XE that costs Rs.48.25 lakh. In a statement to The Indian Express, D.K. Bhalla, secretary, Lok Sabha Secretariat, said that the Jaguar was actually the “cheapest” option. The other car maker in the running was BMW.
One reason why political leaders have moved to luxury cars is security. Many of them are customised, although it isn’t clear whether the speaker’s new Jaguar is.
The President of India is ferried around in a Black Mercedes Benz S600 (W221) Pullman Guard. His cavalcade boasts of a jammer car and an ambulance, among other vehicles. The Prime Minister travels in a BMW 7, a specially designed, high-security vehicle. There are two of these in his cavalcade with the dummy intended to throw off potential attackers.
In a 2013 report, Mail Today reported that former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s cavalcade included a Mercedes Benz ambulance and a handful of other BMWs. The Prime Minister’s car is built to withstand mines and bombs and can run on flat tyres for several kilometers. It also comes equipped with an emergency exit. Interestingly, Indian Prime Ministers used to travel in ambassadors—the last one to do so was Atal Bihari Vajpayee—but switched to the BMW in the interests of security. Prime Minister Modi’s ride of choice when he was Gujarat chief minister was a Mahindra Scorpio.
Protocol-wise, the Speaker of the Lok Sabha is placed after the President, Vice-President, Prime Minister, governors, former presidents and deputy PM (should there be one) and considering that both the President and the Prime Minister move around in cars that can only be described as impressive, perhaps Mahajan’s previous ride, reportedly a Toyota Camry, didn’t make the cut—in terms of security, perhaps, but also in terms of stature.
That’s a sign of the new India.
There was a time when politicians in India sought to lead by example. A poor country could not afford fancy cars and the need of the hour was to be swadeshi (as refelected in the yesteryear slogan, Be Indian, Buy Indian). Given that no one was really making fancy cars in India, everyone rode Hindustan Motor’s Ambassador. But the new motorcades of leaders both big and small, clearly show that there is a new mindset at work, one which believes in flaunting what you possess, quite like the moneyed citizens of the country itself.
After all, who doesn’t love a fancy set of wheels? Our politicians certainly do and given the easy availability of international beasts powered by the best engineering in the world, why wouldn’t they opt for one of them? After all politics is not all about subtlety. So it shouldn’t come as a surprise that the Mahindras, Audis, Range Rovers and Toyotas of the world have become the wheels of choice for political leaders.
Poll affidavits filed ahead of the 2014 general elections reveal that even in their personal capacities, many politicians own super luxury cars, which is understandable because some are well-respected professionals in their own right. According to a Press Trust of India report, Union finance minister Arun Jaitley’s poll affidavit listed a BMW and a Honda Accord among his possessions.
It isn’t just politicians at the national level who have expensive tastes. Rocky Yadav, the son of Janata Dal (United) MLC Manorama Devi, who allegedly shot dead a 19-year-old boy for overtaking him was driving a Land Rover sports utility vehicle at the time. However, when it comes to campaigning, politicians still seem to prefer Indian makes like Tata Safari and vehicles from Mahindra & Mahindra’s stable. Whether this is to connect better with the voters or these cars are built keeping the Indian hinterland in mind is a matter up for debate.
The one exception to the rule was Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, who famously used a Wagon R during his first short-lived stint in office. Today, he has upgraded to a Toyota Innova. Compare this to Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav, who has a Mercedes-Benz as well as a Land Cruiser. Recently, Union minister Prakash Javadekar was found using a Toyota Fortuner which had actually been purchased by Steel Authority of India for on-site visits in Odisha for the ministry’s staff in Bhubaneswar. The car was returned to the state as soon as the news became public.
