Kalam speech today; govt keeps fingers crossed

The government was hoping for an I-Day gift in the shape of a Presidential assent to the controversial Bill by Sunday evening. This has not fructified. Even if the 7 pm 8216;address-to-the-nation8217; goes without a hitch, members of the Cabinet and Parliament have to face Kalam earlier in the day for the opening of the Parliament Museum.

It will also be attended by Vice-President Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his Cabinet colleagues, Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee and leaders of all political parties. While walking through the period settings brought alive through sound-light-video synchronisation with multi-screen on Indian democratic traditions, 8216;8216;one never knows what the President will tell us8217;8217;, a senior Congress leader said.

The entire Central Hall of Parliament has been recreated where a computerised pneumatic-controlled animation will show Jawaharlal Nehru delivering the historic 8216;Tryst with Destiny8217; speech in the midnight of August 14-15, 1947, and again speaking in the last session of the Constituent Assembly on January 24, 1950.

The museum has been built by Kolkata Museum under the aegis of Saroj Ghose 8212; former president of the International Council of Museums, Paris and Ex-Director-General of the National Council of Science Museums.