Of visits by foreign dignitaries and traffic snarls

Of visits by foreign dignitaries and traffic snarls

The Hindu

BANGALORE, DEC. 5. Foreign dignitaries seem to be welcome after they leave the City. The man in the streets is hardly enthused by those visits. He will probably remember the traffic snarls caused by such visits, rather than that of the foreign dignitary.

One such visit, which was hardly taken note of, was that of the Russian President, Vladimir Putin. As was to be expected, the Putin visit disturbed the even tenor of life in the areas of the City through which he passed. Hundreds of motorists and two-wheeler riders were rendered immobile for long on account of the passage of the visiting President's cavalcade. One of the suggestions often made to prevent the State visits of foreign dignitaries becoming a "visitation" for the man in the street is to fly them by helicopter from the airport to the City centre and back.

Even the fact that Bangalore was the only State capital on the itinerary of Mr. Putin did not receive much attention. "Bangalore is the symbol of the new vibrant and growing economy that India is," were his glorious words of praise for the City.

Khruschev visit

In contrast, the visit of the two of the leaders of the erstwhile Soviet Union is still remembered by senior citizens and those not so old but with long memories. In 1955, the Soviet leaders Nikita Khruschev and Bulganin, who came to be known as the "diplomatic salesmen" of the erstwhile Union of Soviet Socialist Republic paid a leisurely visit to Bangalore so also a good number of other cities in the country. There was comparatively far less security detail for visiting dignitaries those days. The Soviet leaders were greeted by joyous Bangaloreans, particularly schoolchildren. The Department of Education had instructed the schools to line up their children along the roads through which the visiting leaders were taken. Khruschev attended a civic reception at the Glass House in Lalbagh. Perhaps for the first time, the newspapers published from the City interested themselves with the delicacies served to them at the banquet held in their honour.

No doubt the Soviet twins, Khruschev and Bulganin, were instant hits with the people.

Voroshilov visit

Five years later (1960) was the visit to the City of the then Soviet President, Marshal Voroshilov, one of the Red Army's heroes of the Second World War along with Zhukov. However, the Voroshilov visit was a low-key affair.

Role of Mayor

The exquisite Mayo Hall has on display the photographs of former Mayors of Bangalore greeting visiting leaders, Indian and foreign. One wonders whether the present day Mayors (who in the past used to be treated as first citizens and receive the salutation "Worshipful Mayor") are introduced at all to the visiting leaders.

The office of mayor has sadly fallen in esteem, though in the protocol book the Mayor is treated on a par with a Cabinet minister. There was the case of one former Mayor who walked out of a public function as he was not garlanded first and a Mysore Minister was given that honour. Today's Mayors are often offered the corner seat on the dais and accept dictations from the presidents of their respective political parties.

Sanitising roads

Mr. Putin might not have beheld many common people on the streets of Bangalore as the police "sanitise" the roads through foreign dignitaries pass for reasons of security. They do so even when the President of India visits the City. Mr. Putin might have returned home with the impression that Bangalore is a vast city but underpopulated as is Siberia and the Russian far east.

Of late, the "common minimum programme" of keeping the vehicles out of the path has been extended even to the convoy of the Chief Minister and the Deputy Chief Minister. May be such a practice was inaugurated when Devaraj Urs was Chief Minister and has been perfected to the chagrin of the growing number of road users.