Protocol breach at CWG opening

THE PRIME Minister’s Office has conveyed discontent at an apparent breach of protocol by a member of the President Pratibha Patil’s team which had to do with seating arrangements during the successful opening ceremony of the CWG Games.

One of Patil’s secretaries had asked Manmohan Singh to switch seats that are set beforehand. The member of staff – a senior one – reportedly patted on the Prime Minster’s shoulder asking him to swap his location to make the sitting arrangement more logical. According to the prearranged sitting order the PM would have a seat at the side of former President APJ Abdul Kalam. The concerned secretary only tried to ensure that the PM sat adjacent to President Pratibha Patil.

The confusion was further roused when Camila Parker Bowles opted to have a seat next to Prince Charles who along with Patil declared the Games open. The final arrangement had Pratibha Patil occupying the seat just next to her spouse Devi Singh Patel, who was flanked by the former and Prince Charles. Rashtrapati Bhavan has downplayed the incident and maintained nothing of what is being said is factual.

Breaches of protocol are quite in rage these days. Not long ago, in what was a grave protocol breach by Mamta Banerjee, the Chief Minister of West Bengal, Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, did not receive invitation for the metro rail inauguration ceremony which was graced by the President Pratibha Patil on her visit to the state. The incident raised eyebrows and attracted criticism from authorities within the state department as well as from New Delhi.

More recently, the Minster of State for Health, Dinesh Trivedi festooned the statue of Mahatma Gandhi before the governor. Code of behavior has it that no official should garland a statue before the Governor of the state has done that. Trivedi later said he was unaware that the Governor was to come and did not intend to violate customs.

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