A day left to go for the swearing-in ceremony, rapid changes in schedule are keeping all involved on their toes. Frayed nerves and hectic activity are evident in the corridors of South Block with the first of the foreign dignitaries scheduled to arrive in Delhi on Sunday afternoon.
By Saturday morning, all the eight countries invited had sent their RSVP for the swearing-in ceremony of Prime Minister-designate Narendra Modi.
So, the final roll call is Bhutan Prime Minister Tshering Tobgay, Nepal Prime Minister Sushil Koirala, Maldives President Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom, Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa, Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, Afghan President Hamid Karzai, Bangladesh Speaker S S Chaudhary and Mauritius President Navin Ramgoolam.
Officials at the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) have been putting in long hours to ensure that the swearing-in ceremony at the forecourt of Rashtrapati Bhawan, which has now morphed into a major diplomatic event, goes off by like clockwork.
While the outline of the schedule is clear, there is still the minute-to-minute programme to be filled in. “Right now, we are holding rehearsals. This is the most important part of protocol to ensure that everything goes off like clockwork,” said a senior MEA official. Another added, “What means at least a month of preparations has been compressed into two days.”
The first foreign VVIP to arrive will be the Bangladesh Speaker on Sunday, followed by the Bhutan Prime Minister. The last foreign guests will leave only on Wednesday.
MEA’s former chief of protocol Ruchira Kamboj, who had just moved to Paris on her new assignment, was informed on Tuesday that she had to fly down quickly to make the arrangements, with the current incumbent Pradip Kumar Rawat having been on the job only for a month. She reached Delhi late Wednesday night.
Foreign secretary Sujatha Singh is of course the chief conductor, being the main person to coordinate between the MEA and the incoming leadership.
Every aspect is being carefully decided from accommodation to motorcades, flight clearances to seating arrangements and of course, meeting with principal interlocutors. The seating arrangements are based on hierarchy and then on alphabetic basis, as per universal protocol norms.
In the last few days, territorial divisions had been keeping briefs ready, waiting for likely summons to do a sudden briefing for the new leadership. There is still no clarity on how many officials will take part in the bilateral meetings, but all members of the concerned divisions have been put on standby.
There will be several opportunities for the new Indian leadership to exchange notes with the eight foreign leaders over the two days—at the ceremony, during high tea and informal dinner at Rashtrapati Bhawan and short “courtesy” bilateral meeting on Tuesday.
The bilateral meetings are being scheduled based on the travel plans of the leaders. So, with Nawaz Sharif set to leave on Tuesday afternoon, he could well take part in the first formal bilateral meeting of PM Modi.
South Block will be buzzing even on a Sunday, with Indian ambassadors accredited to the foreign countries dropping in ahead of the leaders for consultations—as this will be the first face-to-face between the leaders of India’s most important bilateral ties.
Three five-star hotels—Oberoi, Taj Mansingh and Leela—have been booked and sanitised for the visiting delegations. India is likely to pick up the hospitality and travel tab especially for the smaller South Asian leaders who have agreed to come at such short notice. For example, the Maldives President will be travelling on a special jet sent by the Indian government.
All the venues—Rashtrapati Bhawan, Hyderabad House and hotel—are under multiple security rings. Besides 8,000 security personnel from Delhi Police, National Security Guards, paramilitary force, there are around 200 members from the central intelligence agencies also laying siege.
While the presence of all the South Asian leaders will obviously be a security nightmare, there are also specific issues related to individual members. On Saturday morning, intelligence alert had been received that some Tamil Nadu groups will be mobilising people to protest in Delhi over the weekend.