Extra cover for Indo-Pak

Cricket lovers ought to be holding their breath for the historic full series between India and Pakistan. The Pakistani team is arriving in I...

Cricket lovers ought to be holding their breath for the historic full series between India and Pakistan. The Pakistani team is arriving in India in the last week of this month. Just as one cannot forget India’s momentous victory in Pakistan last year, it would be a fallacy to forget the historic reception Indians received in Pakistan. Now, this is our chance to reciprocate the heartwarming welcome we received in Pakistan last year.

It was not just the Indian team but also the accompanying officials and thousands of spectators who were welcomed. Taxi-drivers refused to take money from Indian passengers.Shopkeepers declined to charge any money. These may be stray incidents, but they clearly show the affection the Pakistani man on the street had for his Indian visitors. Thousands of Indian visitors proudly waved the Tricolour all around the match venues. Maybe nobody in Pakistan imagined that the streets of Lahore and Karachi would be filled with the Indian Tricolour. Yet when it happened, there were no adverse feelings visible. Instead, people came forward to either shake hands or embrace the Indians.

When Pakistan lost the final test and the Indian team returned to Hotel Pearl-Continental in Lahore, they were greeted warmly, with bands lined up inside the hotel lobby playing a jubilant tune. It was a fitting sequel to the first one-dayer in Karachi, when the Gandhi siblings were there too. As the match hung by a thread, the authorities feared the worst and the Karachi Commissioner suggested that Priyanka and Rahul leave the stadium. Despite warnings of a feared riot on Karachi’s streets should Indians win, Rahul and Priyanka stayed till the end to savour a hard-earned Indian victory. And no, there was not a trace of a riot. We were overwhelmed with the scenes of jubilation on the streets, where every Pakistani made it a point to congratulate and embrace Indians.

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Now, it’s our turn, and I expect a grander and magnanimous welcome to our visitors. The Indian government has been successful in assuaging all apprehensions of the two-member delegation from Pakistan. While the Home Minister assured full protection to visiting Pakistani spectators, the External Affairs Minister has volunteered to set up special visa counters and camps in Pakistan. Not only this, special buses, trains and flights will be operational. Now it’s left to the Indian man on the street to do his bit.

Samosas and sten guns

At the President’s reception hosted on Republic Day evening in the Mughal Gardens of Rashtrapati Bhawan, the number of invitees is getting larger with each passing year. Notwithstanding the fact that this is the President of India’s reception, it is ridiculous to see thousands of people crowding around to grab a cup of tea or samosa, and being disciplined by elite security guards with the help of barricades and ropes.

The Rashtrapati Bhawan should consider curtailing the list of invitees, maybe to about 1,000. From 500 guests, I have seen the list increase to thousands, so much so that even the sprawling Mughal Gardens is stretched to its limits. In effect, the true purpose of the reception — a chance for the guests to interact with the host — is defeated. There is a tangible deterioration in the selection criteria of guests. One now meets dozens of PR executives, lobbyists and some downright dubious people furiously exchanging business cards with the State’s high and mighty.

As far as the Padma awards are concerned, the number of awardees is growing at an equally vociferous pace. As a consequence, the significance of these honours is diminishing, besides creating unnecessary controversies. In my view, there should be no more than 30 Padma Shris, 10 Padma Bhushans and five Padma Vibhushans each year. The Bharat Ratna should be reserved for the rarest of rare cases. The recommendations made by the committee headed by Cabinet Secretary should be forwarded to a Group of Ministers, who should evaluate the profiles before sending the list of Padma awardees to Rashtrapati Bhawan.

Empty parade

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It is high time we looked at a serious shortcoming in our annual Republic Day parade. People who saw this year’s parade on TV must have noticed a large number of empty seats in the VIP enclosures. What happens is that the Ministry of Defence sends out invites to VIPs as per the mandatory protocol. But many of these VIPs give the parade a miss. Therefore, a better idea would be to confirm the VIPs’ willingness to attend the function. There are hundreds of other dignitaries — ex-ministers, ex-MPs and ex-Secretaries — who actually want to attend the parade but fear violating the protocol.

The writer is a Congress Rajya Sabha MP. He can be contacted at shuklarajeevgmail.com