MEA protocol ignores mayors during VIP visits
City’s first citizen not to receive guests who visit without touching Delhi
There seems to be no end to embarrassments mayors face when foreign dignitaries come calling to their cities.
The name of the first citizen of the city does not figure in the list of VIPs who receive the dignitaries when they come directly to a state capital without touching Delhi.
They, however, are part of the VIPs who receive the foreign leaders when they land in the state capitals after their official engagements in Delhi.
As per the protocol details drawn up by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), there is a difference in the list of the VIPs who should receive a dignitary when they make a direct visit to say, Bangalore or Mumbai, rather than completing their official engagement in Delhi and vice versa.
When they visit a state capital as part of their official visit after Delhi, they should be received by the governor, the chief minister, minister-in-waiting, mayor (draped in his ceremonial attire), etc.
However, when they fly into a state capital without landing in Delhi, they will have to be received by only minister-in-waiting and senior MEA officials and here, the name of the mayor is not part of the protocol list.
MEA sources told Deccan Herald that it has been a practice to have a proper reception, including guard of honour, for visiting dignitaries during their official visit to Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi.
Thus, when British Prime Minister David Cameron visited the tech hub in July or when Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk landed in the garden city on September 6, Bangalore mayor S K Nataraj was not asked to be present. Efforts to reach the mayor on his cellphone proved futile.
MEA sources asserted that there was no violation of protocol or slight to the mayor during these two official visits and in accordance with the detailed protocol formalities drawn up by the ministry.
The ministry has now made a proposal for minor changes in the protocol details. But the mayor’s name does not figure in this change, too.
