Intelligence gap

Nepal Maoist leader Prachanda has been on the radar of Indian intelligence agencies for years because of his anti-India speeches and his call to overthrow the Nepalese monarchy.

Nepal Maoist leader Prachanda has been on the radar of Indian intelligence agencies for years because of his anti-India speeches and his call to overthrow the Nepalese monarchy.

Whenever Prachanda visited India he remained underground for fear of arrest. After the change of guard in Nepal, Prachanda is of course no longer persona non grata in India. But, someone forgot to inform immigration at the Delhi airport of his changed status.

When Prachanda arrived in Delhi last week immigration did not clear him immediately, he had to wait while intelligence officials mulled over whether he should be permitted entry.

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Later, the organisers of the prestigious conference he had been invited to attend took up the issue with Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee. It was felt that an apology to Prachanda was due.

Exposing her hand

Sonia Gandhi let down her guard at the Hindustan Times leadership summit. Asked whether the AICC was finally in for a re-vamp and whether Rahul Gandhi would get a post, she replied, “I’m always too happy to include Rahul in the party or in the government. But he has to decide.”

While it is up to the Congress president to select her own team, surely only Prime Minister Manmohan Singh can declare whether or not Rahul should be included in government.

Hectic pace

It has been a hectic first month for the new Minister for External Affairs, Pranab Mukherjee. The Foreign Office has hosted a string of high-powered visitors in November, including the Chinese president, the prime minister of Belgium, the foreign minister of Hungary, the president of Afghanistan, the deputy prime minister and foreign minister of Nepal, the crown prince of Norway, Pakistan’s foreign secretary, the vice president of Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago and a very senior official from the US state department. Mukherjee has also hosted three dinners for foreign ambassadors based in New Delhi.With such a hands-on Minister for External Affairs, there is very little work left for the two ministers of state. To compensate for his lightened workload, Anand Sharma, has been told by the Congress to handle the centenary celebrations of Mahatma Gandhi’s Satyagraha movement.

Hindi-Chini mismatch

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Surely the kitchen at Rashtrapati Bhavan should have known better than to serve Chinese President Hu Jintao a state banquet which mixed Chinese, Indian and western dishes with little concern for anyone’s gastronomic sensitivities.

The Indian concept of Chinese food was not appreciated by the guests. Most of the Chinese could barely manage a few sips of the hot and sour soup, which was too spicy for their taste. The desi version of Chicken Manchurian, vegetable fried rice, and Hakka noodles was foreign fare for the visitors. In between, the Chinese dishes the guests were served dal makhani, fried fish and chips, and baked Alaska.

Ahamed & Kerala pilgrims’ progress

Minister of State E Ahamed takes the credit for the increased number of Haj pilgrims this year. The MoS has not just boosted the number of pilgrims, he has over the last two years also diverted a sizable amount of the pilgrim traffic from the Haj Committee to private operators. This year 50,000 of the 1.57 lakh pilgrims will be flying through private travel agencies and not surprisingly a large chunk of the tour operators are from Ahamed’s home state, Kerala. With the number of pilgrims from Kerala increasing disproportionately Water Resources Minister Saiffudin Soz has protested that Jammu and Kashmir is not getting its fair share.