Rajghat no to sniffer dogs after Bush row

Nov 04, 2010 - Age Correspondent |

New Delhi

Officials at Rajghat have said they will not allow securitymen to bring in sniffer dogs to secure the samadhi before US President Barack Obama comes visiting on November 8 morning. They had been used duing former US President George W. Bush’s 2006 visit there, leading to a political storm. That, the samadhi committee officials said, had been a mistake and it would not be repeated.

Mahatma Gandhi’s great grandson Tushar Gandhi had expressed vehement objections to the entry of sniffer dogs at the site, calling it a form of disrespect to the father of the nation.
An Opposition party had then tried to exploit the issue, and many ordinary citizens had said they felt “let down”.
While in 2006 acclaimed Gandhian Nirmala Deshpande had received Mr Bush at Rajghat, this time samadhi committee secretary Rajnish Kumar is expected to do the honours. Mr Kumar had said earlier that no special preparations were being made for the visit of the US President.

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