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New Delhi: Who is to blame for the embarrassments President Pratibha Patil faced during her recent visit to Latin American countries?
The president, who was on her maiden foreign visit, had to face an almost empty senate in Brazil during her address and had to call off her address to the Mexican parliament at the last minute.
The Indian officials involved have since then been in a blame game.
Embarrassed Brazilian diplomats tried to downplay the issue. "Our practice is to invite the leaders of main political parties, who were all present on this very solemn occasion," claimed Brazilian Ambassador to India Marco Antonio Brandao.
However, the 20-odd media members accompanying the Indian president were not briefed about the "practice" either by the Brazilian side or by Indian officials.
The envoy also could not explain why there were no instructions from the party leaders to their members to be present in the house. He was also silent when asked if it would be the same situation if the US President George W. Bush or his French counterpart Nicolas Sarkozy were to address the senate.
Smaller chamber
Later, Brandao himself admitted that they should consider organising such addresses - by a head of state - only for the leaders of main parties in a smaller chamber instead of holding it in the spacious senate chamber with rows of empty seats.
After addressing the senate - where only 15 of the 81 members were present - Patil went to the lower house, the house of deputies, where only three members out of 513 were present initially before the president came into the chamber. However, the media was ushered out and not allowed to cover her speech subsequently, but officials later claimed that more members had trooped into the house.
Indian officials blamed the media for "making a mountain out of a molehill" and for "craving sensationalism". But they secretly admitted that it was "too embarrassing to witness the Indian president's address to a nearly empty house".
They also said the absence of 66 senators during the Indian president's address was certainly unusual and did not speak well of the interest they had in India.
Officials also admitted that the Brazilian side should have ensured that the address would be attended by a considerable number of members.
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