Obama cancels much-awaited visit to Taj Mahal

US Preident will head to Riyadh instead, to condole the death of the King of Saudi Arabia

US President Barack Obama and wife Michelle will not visit the Taj Mahal during their three-day visit to India, with the US deciding he should fly to Riyadh to condole the death of the King of Saudi Arabia on his way back to Washington.

Also, US officials were clear the US president shouldn’t violate any Indian laws. Given a Supreme Court order in 2000 had barred petrol- and diesel-powered vehicles within a 500-metre radius of the Taj Mahal, the only choice for the US president was to travel in a battery powered golf cart-type vehicle with his wife to the monument, a plan his security vetoed.

Initially, US Vice-President Joe Biden was to represent the US in condoling the Saudi King’s death. In a statement, the US State Department said: “As the president’s and vice-president’s travel schedules became clearer, we determined the window when the vice-president would be on the ground in Riyadh coincided with the president’s departure from India. Accordingly, we adjusted the schedule in coordination with the Indian government so that the president would be able to depart India after his speech on Tuesday to stop in Riyadh during the return trip to meet King Salman and other Saudi officials.”

WHAT TO WATCH OUT FOR...

• A ceremonial welcome for Obama will be followed by lunch with Prime Minister Narendra Modi at Race Course Road. What will the conversations centre on?
• After a meeting at Hyderabad House, Modi and Obama will address the media and possibly field a few questions. Will the joint statement have a reference to the Indo-US civil nuclear agreement? What will the US say about Pakistan? Will there be any pact on clean energy or transfer pricing?
• In the evening, President Pranab Mukherjee will host a banquet. Traditionally, a short speech is read out. What will it focus on?
• A US-India business leaders’ meeting is scheduled the next day, in which Modi and Obama will be present. This could well be the most interesting meeting. Though it won’t be open to the public, it is likely industry leaders will have something to say after it
• On the final day of his visit, Obama is scheduled to address a meeting at Delhi’s Siri Fort auditorium, in which questions to the US president might be allowed. What he says will define the note he wants his visit to strike

“President Obama will offer his condolences on behalf of the American people. The president regrets he will be unable to visit Agra during this trip. The vice-president will remain in Washington.”

Agra district magistrate Pankaj Kumar told Business Standard the American authorities had, on Saturday morning, informed him about the cancellation of President Obama’s Agra visit.

“When I addressed a press conference this morning, I had said the reasons for the cancellation were not clear. However, since then, the White House has issued a release stating the American president had to reschedule to visit Saudi Arabia.”

He claimed there were no security concerns, adding American security officials were satisfied with the arrangements made.

He said the Americans had already carried out several drills at the Agra Air Force airport, adding Obama was to fly from Delhi to Agra, not be driven on the Taj Expressway, as had been speculated.

Navratna Kumar Pathak, the Archaeological Survey of India’s Agra circle incharge, said US officials had made several visits to the monument since December and had held several security drills there. “We had not made any specific arrangements for the Obamas, except for sprucing up cleanliness at the monument. The Americans had not been too keen on visiting the dark crypt chamber and Obama would have kept to the upper areas. He was slated to stay at the monument for about 45 minutes.”