ASSEMBLY POLL '98
COMMENTARY
SPECIALS
INTERVIEWS
CAPITAL BUZZ
REDIFF POLL
DEAR REDIFF
THE STATES
YEH HAI INDIA!
ELECTIONS '98
ARCHIVES

PM to skip Mahajan's bash for government's birthday

Suhasini Haidar in New Delhi

Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee will not attend the mega-celebration being organised by Information and Broadcasting Minister Pramod Mahajan to celebrate the completion of one year in office by the Bharatiya Janata Party-led coalition government.

According to sources in the Prime Minister's Office, Vajpayee has been advised against attending the bash because the security at the venue is "nowhere near the minimum required" by the Special Protection Group.

But sources within the BJP cite Vajpayee's unhappiness with Mahajan's plan for a lavish display as the reason for his decision. "After all, it wouldn't be good for the PM to take part in an event that looks wasteful, as this celebration does," a source close to him said.

Though both the I&B minister's office and the organisers at the venue refused to comment on the cost of the extravaganza, it could run into millions of rupees.

The PMO's confirmation today of Vajpayee's decision to abstain from the function follows the announcement by many of the BJP's alliance partners, including the Trinamul Congress and the All-India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, not to participate in the celebration on Friday.

Another point that may cause trouble for the organisers is the choice of venue. The Hauz Khas monument that forms the backdrop of their set is part of one of Delhi's most popular parks. Irate walkers, environmentalists and local residents protested yesterday against the use of their favourite grounds for the show. They are thinking of filing a public-interest litigation to restrain the BJP from using the area.

Today, Congress politician Kiran Walia, member of the Delhi assembly from Hauz Khas, protested at the venue against what she called a "vulgar display".

But officials at the site say they are building a temporary diversion to ensure the walkways are not obstructed. They also point to the fact that they have received permission from the Archaeological Survey of India, guardian of all heritage sites and monuments in the country, to use the place.

Meanwhile, work at the site continues regardless of the protests. The director of the extravaganza is theatre personality Aamir Raza Hussain.

Hussain, unconcerned by the controversy around his show, insists the protests are "politically motivated". "I assure you, there isn't any politics involved in this show, we are just putting together a tamasha, a spectacle, for the invitees," he told Rediff On The NeT.

The show will include a play and a choreographed sequence with 100 dancers, some of whom will be on roller skates.

The play is based on the theme of 'Violence and Peace'. It will excerpt scenes from the Mahabharata and the life of Gautam Buddha. There will be scenes juxtaposing the 'violent struggle' of Bhagat Singh and Chandrashekhar Azad with the 'peaceful path' of Mahatma Gandhi. Finally, it will showcase the two major accomplishments of the BJP government -- the 'violent' nuclear explosions at Pokhran last May and the inauguration of the Delhi-Lahore bus service (a 'harbinger of peace').

The show, which is expected to last two hours on the evening of March 19, will end with a spectacular fireworks display.

Five hundred men have been working on the site for the last week, building a set 200 feet long and 50 feet wide. The set has been designed by Bollywood art director Bijon Dasgupta, who is spending the next few days at Hauz Khas to give it the final touches.

Many of the sets will move on carriages, with a design Dasgupta had perfected for Raza Hussain's earlier extravaganza, The Legend of Rama. In that show, Dasgupta had prepared 12 sets from scenes in the Ramayana, and moved the entire audience from set to set by wheeling them along a special railway track.

Tell us what you think of this report