CALCUTTA TELEGRAPH- Clinton first, sick kids later

„Erst Clinton – dann die kranken Kinder ! – Aus: THE TELEGRAPH, Kalkutta – und THE TELEGRAPH beklagt die „beiden Gesichter Indiens“ – more:
Clinton first, sick kids later

– Mulayam woos dollars as Rahul visits death zone

TAPAS CHAKRABORTY

Rahul with a child being treated at a Gorakhpur hospital. (PTI)

Lucknow/Gorakhpur, Sept. 7: Uttar Pradesh today reflected the two faces of India, holding up a shining visage before Bill Clinton who flew in with a promise of dollars while Japanese encephalitis killed more children in the state’s backyard.

Rahul Gandhi chose to see the other face, changing his schedule to travel to Gorakhpur where about 300 of the 569 child deaths from the disease have occurred.

Lucknow, however, dressed itself up for its star guest, who arrived at 7.30 in the morning with a six-member team from the Clinton Foundation.

Officialdom was swept up in a mood of festivity as ministers prepared to attend a lavish dinner thrown for the former US President.

The state’s stake, the government explained, is the investment possibilities; but many wondered how the Clinton Foundation, an agency for charity, could help in that.

Clinton’s team was made up of leading NRI hotelier Sant Chhatwal, Doug Band, Frank Giustra, Justin Cooper, J. Carson and Tim Phillips. Some of them were Clinton’s financial advisers when he was President.

Since Clinton began his journey from Uzbekistan last night, 16 children had died in Gorakhpur and at least 30 others had been admitted to hospital.

The ex-President avoided the man in the street and rested the whole day, meeting only an Uttar Pradesh Development Council team led by ruling Samajwadi Party general secretary Amar Singh in the afternoon.

The city was awash with huge cloth banners carrying messages like “Uttar Pradesh government welcomes US President Clinton”.

Party workers covered the walls with graffiti praising Amar Singh for bringing in Clinton — who is on a personal visit — in his effort to turn Uttar Pradesh into “Uttam Pradesh”.

At Kalidas Marg, where Clinton had dinner with Mulayam and 150 other guests, the huge bullet-proof dining hall was fitted out with 26 air-conditioners. Earlier, Clinton received an official reception from the chief minister at 6 pm.

While state officials were busy managing the Clinton show, Rahul Gandhi reached Gorakhpur in the morning.

A handful of party workers by his side, the Amethi MP reached the Gorakhpur Baba Raghavdas Medical College Hospital and spoke to patients, most of them children.

“The situation is bad, but the doctors are fighting it out,” Rahul said. He thought there was a need to start an aerial mosquito fogging operation.

“The All India Congress Committee will soon provide a helicopter for this,” he told reporters.

Rahul, who spent an hour at the hospital, was surprised when he was told the post of the chief medical officer of the district was lying vacant.

Despite the hospital authorities’ last-minute efforts, filth and garbage littered the compound and pigs — the carriers of the disease — roamed about.

An aghast Rahul, unable to bear the stench, at one point covered his face with his handkerchief.

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