Delhi allowed China to use the iconic Rajpath to
display posters against the Dalai Lama, French President Nicolas
Sarkozy and the western media while clinically clamping down on
Tibetan protests.
As the Olympic torch trundled down Rajpath – hidden from
ordinary Indian eyes by an iron curtain of security – official Chinese
delegates were allowed to walk and bus with propaganda placards.
"Da Lie Lama", screamed a poster from the windows of a red
and white bus carrying flag-waving Chinese delegates to Rajpath before the
start of the torch run. As they got off the bus and walked towards a
podium at India Gate, the Chinese held up several placards.
"Mr Sarkozy, go on! Waste your bed", said one that hung
from the neck of one of the Chinese. It carried a picture of the French
president and his wife Carla Bruni.
During the Lhasa protests, Sarkozy was reported to have
hinted that he was open to boycotting the Olympics inauguration over the
alleged human rights violations by China.
Another placard said: "Shame CNN, Shame BBC, Great China".
Not a single Indian, barring security personnel and select
journalists, was allowed to witness the 2.3 km relay as it snaked down the
street from Vijay Chowk to the National Stadium at India Gate.
Central Delhi looked a ghost city, with the normally
bustling streets empty apart from the security officials deployed to turn
away anyone hoping to glimpse the showpiece event.
Hundreds of sports fans – students who bunked school,
professionals who skipped work – had been allowed to sit on the lawns
alongside Rajpath but were rudely shooed away around 3 p.m. The relay was
to start at 4.
The Indian Olympic Association (IOA) had issued glossy
passes to correspondents and photographers and at no stage had the IOA or
police mentioned that any other document would be required.
Yet, after journalists were allowed into the five media
enclosures put up alongside Rajpath, officers began demanding an
additional document from those inside.
Between 3.15 and 3.30, a correspondent from The
Telegraph was pushed and abused by a senior Delhi police officer and,
on objecting, was kicked and slapped by constables.
All this for peacefully questioning why the security
apparatus of a democracy was so paranoid that it suddenly couldn’t trust
passes issued by its own Olympic authorities.
Tibetans were arrested for protesting against the relay at
four spots more than a kilometre from Rajpath.
The efforts to please the Chinese seem to have worked.
Jiang Xiaoyu, (vice-president) of the Games organising committee,
profusely thanked Delhi and India "for peacefully hosting the run" in his
speech at the end of the relay.
"Thank you," a beaming Jiang said to Suresh Kalmadi,
India’s Olympic chief, before handing over a memento to Delhi chief
minister Sheila Dikshit, as athletes who ran with the torch clapped.