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  • Allahabad HC said that the UP Police is acting as law unto themselves as they detained a person unlawfully even before his arrest
  • Kolkata witnesses traffic snarls on the first day of the Durga Puja festival as revellers start pnadal-hopping
  • Neha Bora was subsequently released and Dipke is to appear before a magistrate today at noon
  • Delhi Police detained Cockroach Janta Party founder Abhijeet Dipke, Neha Bora of AISA, student leaders and supporters ahead of a rally in Connaught Place demanding Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar's resignation. The protest followed the detention and jailing of two CJP leaders earlier in the week over demonstrations at Jantar Mantar
  • The Reserve Bank of India is considering further monetary tightening to counter capital outflows and increase the cost of betting against the rupee, according to bankers and analysts cited by Reuters. The measures follow recent rate increases and steps to drain liquidity as pressure on the currency and inflation concerns persist
  • India directed oil marketing companies to stop diverting sugar-based feedstocks for ethanol production in the 2026–27 supply year, according to a new tender issued on Friday. The companies have invited bids for 11 billion litres of ethanol made from alternatives including corn and broken rice, amid concerns about domestic sugar supplies and prices
  • Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said India's trade imbalance with China was growing sharply and attributed the problem partly to restrictions on Indian goods and services entering the Chinese market. China subsequently said it was ready to work with India to address mutual economic and trade concerns; India's trade deficit with China reached $69 billion in the first half of FY2026–27, up 27% year-on-year
  • Indian equity benchmarks extended their recovery on Friday, with the Sensex rising 413.66 points to close at 74,729.27 and the Nifty 50 gaining 148.80 points to settle at 23,146.15. Information technology shares, including Tech Mahindra, Infosys and TCS, helped lift the indices
  • India defeated Zimbabwe by four wickets in the opening women's T20 International in Raipur, taking a 1–0 lead in the three-match series. Deepti Sharma and Niki Prasad combined in an 82-run stand after India's top order collapsed, helping the hosts chase down Zimbabwe's total of 114 for five
  • Indian wrestler Komal won bronze in the women's 59 kg category at the Under-23 World Wrestling Championships in Las Vegas, defeating Kazakhstan's Viktoriia Khusainova 7–2. Fellow Indian Amruta Pujari advanced to the women's 72 kg final after recording two pinfall victories
  • Indian shuttler Jagsher Singh Khangurra secured a bronze medal at the BWF World Junior Badminton Championships in Cairo
  • The Supreme Court of India upheld the Bombay High Court's decision quashing the 2020 write-off of ₹8,415 crore in additional tier-1 bonds issued by Yes Bank (Yes Bank). The court ruled that the bank's administrator lacked the authority to extinguish the bonds under the final reconstruction scheme, strengthening bondholders' claims
  • The Supreme Court issued notices to the Election Commission of India, Delhi Police and opposition leaders, including Rahul Gandhi and Akhilesh Yadav, in separate petitions concerning electoral-roll revision and protests held in Delhi on October 10–12. The court also directed the preservation of CCTV footage linked to allegations of police excesses
  • The Supreme Court ruled that a person converting from Hinduism to Islam cannot automatically claim backward-class reservation benefits in the new religious community solely on the basis of their previous caste status. The judgment upheld the Madras High Court's decision striking down a 2024 Tamil Nadu government order that permitted such certification for specified communities
  • The Election Commission of India ordered a Special Summary Revision of electoral rolls in 14 states and three Union Territories, using January 1, 2027, as the qualifying date for voter eligibility. The draft rolls are scheduled for publication on November 12, claims and objections will be accepted until December 11, and the final rolls are due on January 4, 2027
Delhi HC refuses to ban CJP's Tiranga rally at Central Park in Connaught Place today /////// Police says will control and regulate it /////// NDMC closes the park for the public on Friday and Saturday
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VIP Culture, Once Again, Shows India Its Place

By Sunil Garodia
First publised on 2025-12-15 15:44:16

About the Author

Sunil Garodia Editor-in-Chief of indiacommentary.com. Current Affairs analyst and political commentator. Author of Cyber Scams in India, Digital Arrest, The Money Trap and The Human Hack

If anyone still needed proof that VIP culture is corroding public life in India, Lionel Messi's visit to Kolkata provided it in brutal clarity.

Thousands of fans paid hefty sums to attend the event at Salt Lake Stadium as part of Messi's G.O.A.T. India Tour. Many travelled long distances, took time off work, and stood for hours in packed galleries, hoping for a glimpse of one of football's greatest players. What they got instead was a lesson in how little the paying public matters when power walks in.

Messi did appear. But he was quickly ring-fenced by a dense cluster of politicians, government functionaries, celebrities, and assorted VIPs who crowded around him as if access itself were the prize. Ordinary ticket-holders were left straining to see past a human wall of entitlement, lifting phones above their heads, standing on tiptoe, trying desperately to justify the money they had spent.

The videos that flooded social media captured the moment perfectly. Smiling ministers posing for photographs. Entourages blocking sightlines. Fans behind them visibly angry and helpless. The contrast was obscene. This was not an event organised for football lovers. It was a photo-op for the powerful.

What made it worse was the sheer absurdity of it. Many of these VIPs had no visible connection to football at all. Their interest began and ended with the selfie. Never mind that ordinary citizens had shelled out thousands of rupees, navigated traffic and crowds, and rearranged their lives for this one evening. Their experience was clearly secondary.

Predictably, frustration boiled over. Booing followed. Objects were thrown. Parts of the stadium were vandalised. Authorities were quick to condemn the crowd's behaviour, far quicker than they were to acknowledge what had caused it. Fans didn't arrive angry. They became angry after being treated as extras in a spectacle they had paid for.

The aftermath followed a familiar script. The event organiser was arrested. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee issued a public apology. A government-appointed inquiry was announced to look into mismanagement and lapses. And then, almost as quickly, the system moved on.

What was missing was accountability at the level where it actually mattered. Not one VIP who elbowed their way into the spotlight apologised. No politician acknowledged that their presence may have worsened the chaos. The message was clear: consequences are for organisers, not for the powerful who hijack public events with impunity.

This episode was not an aberration. It is part of a pattern Indians know too well. Cricket matches, concerts, cultural programmes - everywhere, the same hierarchy asserts itself. VIP passes multiply. Rules bend. Organisers comply. And the paying public adjusts or suffers.

VIP culture has seeped into every corner of public life - airport queues, hospital wards, school admissions, train compartments. It thrives on the unspoken assumption that some people matter more than others, even in spaces that are supposedly public.

Messi's visit should have been remembered as a celebration of football in a city that loves the game. Instead, in Kolkata, it became a reminder of something else entirely: that in India, status often trumps fairness, and the common citizen is still expected to stand quietly behind the rope.

And that, more than the chaos or the damaged seats, is the real disgrace.

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