George W. Bush (a.k.a. Dubya) and his cappers in India! Part II

How Bush got Purana Qila

Lakshmi Iyer

New Delhi:

Initially, President Bush wanted to make his March 3 address to a select gathering from the Red Fort.

The Americans wanted a Mughal backdrop for the address. They wanted the Red Fort — where former US president Jimmy Carter had addressed a gathering during his visit in 1978.

But the government was not keen on the Red Fort.

The next option was Humayun’s Tomb, which was the venue for a dinner hosted for Bush’s predecessor president Bill Clinton. But the Muslim clergy was not keen on the idea.

Finally, the Purana Qila was agreed upon.

While the hospitality industry is taking ‘Bushisms’ like ‘the K9 unit’ in its stride, political circles see this as another example of the overbearing approach of the Americans.

"We hear the US security agencies wanted the ASI to completely hand over the Purana Qila site to them. The ASI refused to do so," said CPI(M) Rajya Sabha member Nilotpal Basu.

There was no way Bush could have been allowed to address Parliament. "Ours is the only Parliament in the world that passed a resolution not only condemning his attack on Iraq but also called upon Washington to withdraw troops. How could we have then got him over to address us?"

The Mumbai Mirror