He may have missed President Pranab Mukherjee?s Iftaar party on Monday but Prime Minister Narendra Modi will preside over two functions at Rashtrapati Bhavan on Friday when Mukherjee completes two years in office. These will be the PM?s first big public functions at Rashtrapati Bhavan since his swearing-in ceremony on May 26. Modi had missed the Iftaar party as he was in Mumbai.
The Friday?s celebrations will include the inauguration of a new museum at the erstwhile stables in the morning and a book launch followed by a banquet in the evening. While Modi will preside over the morning function, in the evening he will present to Mukherjee the first copies of three books ? Indradhanush that deals with the cultural life of Rashtrapati Bhavan, The Winged Visitors of Rashtrapati Bhavan that chronicles 111 species that visit the estate and Thoughts and Reflections that is a collection of the President?s quotes.
Modi has been to Rashtrapati Bhavan quite a few times since he took oath. According to sources in Rashtrapati Bhavan, the two have met on extremely cordial terms and Modi was even given a guided tour of Mukherjee?s sprawling residence and estate. Incidentally, a picture from Modi?s swearing-in ceremony has been used in the opening pages of the new Rashtrapati Bhavan brochure along with one of Jawaharlal Nehru taking oath in the Durbar Hall and Manmohan Singh at the Ashoka Hall.
Though this is Mukherjee?s second anniversary at Rashtrapati Bhavan, the preparations are at a more grand scale this year, principally because one year was too little time to plan and finish projects.
?The Stables?, which will be inaugurated on Friday, is a story-telling museum tracing the history of Rashtrapati Bhavan right from the Delhi Durbar of 1911 when the capital of British India shifted to Delhi and Edward Lutyens was tasked with building seats of government. It uses sound-light-video animation, laser and holographic projections, augmented reality to depict historical events.
The museum depicts the Gandhi-Irwin pact of 1931 and then the scene in a small room inside the magnificent structure where the partition of India was decided on June 1947. Items of furniture designed by Lutyens, ceremonial coaches, paintings sketches and decorative art specimens gifted to presidents over the years have been displayed in the museum.
In one gallery are fiber glass likenesses of all past presidents and a wax statue of President Mukherjee gifted to him by a West Bengal artisan.
Friday?s book launch event will be followed by a brief musical performance by a classical troop the Agnihotri Brothers who will sing two compositions, a Ganesh Vandana and a Ram Bhajan before the 104-odd guests proceed for the official banquet.