NEWSLINKS
US EDITION
COLUMNISTS
DIARY
SPECIALS
INTERVIEWS
CAPITAL BUZZ
REDIFF POLL
DEAR REDIFF
THE STATES
YEH HAI INDIA!
ELECTION 99
ELECTIONS
ARCHIVES

Search Rediff

How Clinton will spend his days in India

Amberish K Diwanji in New Delhi

Bill Clinton's visit is at hand, and officials of both countries are in a tizzy preparing for it.

For Indian bureaucrats, the good news is that the United States president has turned down a request to meet representatives of the All-Parties Hurriyat Conference, which seeks to speak on behalf of the militants in Kashmir. The US administration has pointed out that meeting them on the tour will be viewed negatively by New Delhi.

But Hurriyat representatives may be invited to a banquet hosted by the US embassy in New Delhi to honour Clinton. Diplomats confirmed that a banquet was indeed being planned, but refused to divulge the date or the likely invitees.

On the preparations front, while the final details are still to be given the last polish, the broad contours appear decipherable. The US president will spend, effectively, six nights and five (actually four-and-a-half) days in India.

Air Force One, bearing the president, will land in Delhi on March 19. Indian government officials will receive him at the airport as per protocol, but there will be no ceremonial function. Clinton will drive straight to his shelter for the night.

On March 20, Clinton will fly to Dhaka, for a day's visit to Bangladesh. He will return to Delhi the same night, again to no official function.

On March 21, the US president's visit to India officially begins with a ceremonial reception at Rashtrapati Bhavan, from where he will call on the Indian president.

After that, the US president will have a one-to-one meeting with Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, followed by a formal lunch. He will also pay a visit to Rajghat, from where he will return to a banquet at the Rashtrapati Bhavan.

On March 22, the US president will address a special session of Parliament, and attend some other official functions in New Delhi. Later he will depart for Agra to visit the Taj Mahal. From there he will leave for Jaipur.

On March 23, Clinton will travel around Jaipur, visiting the historic Amber fort, a 'typical' Rajasthani village called Naliya a few miles from Jaipur, and a visit to Ranthambore where he hopes to see the king of the Indian jungles, the tiger. The president will return to Jaipur to spend his second night there.

On March 24, Air Force One will take off for Hyderabad, where Clinton is likely to visit Hi-Tech City, an information technology venue built in the Andhra Pradesh capital. After 165 minutes in the Andhra Pradesh capital (as per an earlier schedule, the US president's visit was to last some seven hours) Clinton will leave for Bombay, where he will spend his last night in India.

On March 25, the US president will spend the day in the country's commercial capital. He is scheduled to leave India in the afternoon for Islamabad and from there to Washington, DC.

All the cities that Clinton will be visiting, even if for just a few hours, are being spruced up as never before. The police are all over the places where Uncle Sam's top representative will be touching base. The US embassy and the Maurya Sheraton Hotel (where Clinton might stay while in Delhi) are swarming with cops, sirens and metal detectors.

All the roads the US president will be using are receiving fresh layers of tar, there is fresh paint on the dividers, the walls alongside are being cleaned up, the lawns mowed at Rajghat where the president will pay homage at Mahatma Gandhi's samadhi...

New Delhi, thus, is fast acquiring a brand new clean look. Ditto Agra, Jaipur, Hyderabad, and Bombay.

ALSO SEE
Desperately seeking Bill
Clinton's security takes over New Delhi
Mr Clinton, don't come to India
Pink City freshens up to host Clinton

Back to top

Tell us what you think of this report