US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrived here Sunday on a two-day visit during which she would hold talks with West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and interact with a cross-section of people.
Clinton, 64, flew into Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport on a special flight from Dhaka at 12.55 p.m., running 15 minutes behind schedule, and was received by two bureaucrats of the state government.
She waved to the waiting camerapersons at the airport and posed for photos before boarding a limousine which headed for her hotel in South Kolkata amid tight security.
The high point of Clinton’s visit, her second to the city and first after becoming the US Secretary of state, will be her meeting with Banerjee at the state secretariat, Writers’ Building, Monday 11 a.m.
Sunday, she will attend a cultural programme at the Indian Council for Cultural Relations auditorium in central Kolkata and visit Victoria Memorial.
Monday, prior to her discussions with Banerjee, she would address intellectuals, academicians and other eminent personalities of the city.
West Bengal’s seat of power is barricaded with bamboos, ministers have been asked to use a side gate and reporters will be banned from entering the premises during US Secretary of State Hillary Cinton’s visit as part of unprecedented security arrangements monitored by US security agencies.
“The security arrangements are quite unprecedented,” conceded a top officer of the city police, two days ahead of the scheduled meeting between Clinton – one of the most powerful politicians of the globe – and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, one of the most influential persons in the world, according to Time magazine.
A Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) team has been in the city for the past three days, reviewing the measures and giving inputs to their Indian counterparts.
The Writers’ Building, a cluster of 13 four-storeyed buildings with their impressive Corinthian facade that houses the state secretariat where Clinton is slated to meet Banerjee, has been barricaded all around with the central gate ordered to be closed by 9 a.m. Monday, two hours before the scheduled talks. Excepting the two leaders, all other ministers and officials will enter the building through a side gate.
Even the entry of the media has been restricted. Only photo journalists and video camerapersons will be allowed inside while the entry of reporters has been banned during the visit.
“Plainclothes personnel will be around the Writers’ Building and the Raj Bhavan round the clock. We have also been making searches in various parts of the city especially on the routes her convoy may take,” said a senior police officer.
The number of CCTVs installed in the VVIP corridor of the Writers’ Building has been increased and the footage will be scanned by US security officials. The metal detectors at the entry gate will also be manned by US security agents.
The illumination of the conference hall where the proposed meet is slated to take place has been doubled. All electronic equipment like projectors have been removed even from the conference hall.
The FBI team which has been supervising the security arrangements, visited several establishments in the city including the Raj Bhavan.
A old portrait of Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore showing him in the dance drama ‘Valmiki Pratibha‘ has been replaced with a new one as Clinton is supposed to pay her respects to the Bard.
During her stay, Clinton is also likely to visit the headquarters of the Mother Teresa-founded Missionaries of Charity in the city.
She is also expected to attend a programme at the Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) auditorium in central Kolkata and visit the Victoria Memorial British-era museum, but there is no official confirmation from the authorities yet.
Clinton had earlier visited the city as the US first lady to attend the funeral of Mother Teresa in September 1997.