Symbols as privilege.

This news made headlines.

Right then. Let us legislate against offending symbols. That is a great step in the right direction for a secular democracy with no other issues (especially trivial ones like hunger, poverty, employment, climate change, infrastructure, economy, corruption, safety, human rights, terrorism, religious fundamentalism) and way too much time on our (and our venerable legislators’) hands.

Do you want to know what the actual problem is?

It is the unnecessary obsequiousness shown to symbols by people in authority that causes others to use those symbols as a get-out-of-jail-free card. I am of the opinion that a wrongly parked car is a wrongly parked car, regardless of who it belongs to. Someone breaking the red light is endangering everyone else's (and their own) lives, regardless of what symbols, lights, or words they have written on it (and no, first responder vehicles like fire brigade trucks and ambulances are not exempt from respecting the traffic rules; just that the traffic rules state that they be given right of way in every condition, red light or not. So, by running through a red light, they are in fact doing so within the rule of law, and are not a danger to anyone, provided, of course, that other drivers know that and give these vehicles a pass, even if the signal is green for them).

Unfortunately, the problem as seen by the government babus is that those who are 'unauthorised' to use a particular symbol need to be penalised.

This may be true in the limited sense of the same case as above (first responders, law enforcement, etc) because these symbols are designed and publicly accepted as standing for someone in a hurry to get somewhere to save lives. but generally, whether I have an Indian flag or the Sarnath lions on my vehicle is immaterial to the application of traffic rules to me.

I take issue with the perspective of the government: that somehow the problem is the rationing and limiting use of symbols that accord privileges, and not that privileges are accorded in the first place with no real value to the common citizen.