Vanity fare

Ever since they failed to prevent intruders from barging into the PM’s cavalcade on three separate occasions, the police goes into a panic every time the PM passes through their territory. Delhites who grumble over the long delays and traffic jams resulting from the Prime Minister’s visits, should take comfort that their tribulations are mild compared to what Kanpur residents had to face last week.

Vajpayee visited the city for a few hours to attend his grand niece’s wedding. The UP police ordered the closure of all schools and colleges as a security measure and even the employees of HAL were given the day off. The GT Road was blocked for nearly six hours, leading to nightmarish traffic snarls with long queues of trucks stuck in massive jams. UP Chief Minister Mayawati flew from Lucknow just to greet Vajpayee at the airport on his arrival. The BJP, which once protested against Rajiv Gandhi’s security, has now introduced a drill which is far more excessive.

On his own

When former US Deputy Secretary of State Strobe Talbott visited Delhi last week, he came in his private capacity as head of the Brookings Institution and had to fend for himself. After a dinner with some senior journalists and defence analaysts at a walled city restaurant, Talbott went off to hail a taxi to return to his hotel. Fortunately, someone offered him a lift. For Indians, it was an eye opener to discover that the once powerful Talbott, who had the rank of a minister of state in the Clinton regime, was provided no assistance by way of cars or personnel by his embassy, which adheres strictly to the policy that once an individual steps down from government, he is not entitled to state facilities.

A major contrast surely to our desi parampara where every deputy secretary or ex-MP traveling abroad expects the local Indian embassy to send a limousine to the airport to receive him and is quick to complain back in Delhi if he is not provided a chauffeur driven car and taken out for meals by the embassy staff.

Anything goes

The Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha, the youth wing of the BJP, had pulled out all the stops for its two-day extravaganza at the Vigyan Bhavan in Delhi. The subject of the conference was combating terrorism, but the organisers seemed more concerned about demonstrating their clout in attracting the top names in the government and providing lavish hospitality to the participants — with some generous governmental assistance — rather than engaging in a serious debate on the actual topic of discussion. TV crews, for instance, were more concerned about getting a sound byte from former Miss India Lara Dutta, rather than interviewing the less than half a dozen experts on terrorism present. Dutta was the only beauty queen who showed up though others like Aishwarya Rai, Gul Panag and Priyanka Chopra had also been invited.

Delegates from 52 countries were present, but the criteria for selection was very flexible and even foreign students at local universities were roped in to represent their countries. At times, the organisers seemed vague about the antecedents of their prticipants. For instance, the delegate from Papua New Guinea was asked where in Africa his country was located. He pointed out indignantly that it was not in Africa but in the Pacific. The Senegalese representative admitted that he had no terrorism in his country so he could not speak on the issue, but added helpfully that Senegal had corruption and poverty just as in India.

Programmed for war

To justify handing the contract for the coverage of the Iraq war to just one Indian production house, Third Eye, DD officals claim piously that they do not want to be dependent on western media for war coverage. The explanation seems a trifle suspect considering that DD’s archives are filled with clips from western TV channels and no Indian film or television company has the infrastructure or budget for war coverage in the Middle East. The most extraordinary part of DD’s agreement with Third Eye is that the Gulf War programme dispatches start from Monday and continue for 20 days at the cost of Rs five lakhs per day regardless of when, or even whether, the Americans declare war!

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