Obama's state dinner for PM gets mega pre-event media play

Washington, Nov 24 (PTI) A host of Indian leaders have
dined at the majestic White House in the past, but the state
dinner for Prime Minister of India Manmohan Singh has received
an unprecedented pre-event media coverage being the first such
event of the Obama Administration.

American media has gone all-out to focus on it from all
angles, speculating about the menu, the guest list and
highlighting that President Barack Obama's gesture marks
India's growing stature.

A total of 320 guests have been invited to the 'black
tie' event, ABC reported.

The invitation card reads: "The President and Mrs Obama
request the pleasure of the company of Mr _____ at a dinner in
honour of His Excellency Dr Manmohan Singh, Prime Minister of
the Republic of India, and Mrs Gursharan Kaur, to be held at
The White House on Tuesday, November 24, 2009 at seven
o'clock."

The White House says that the formality of the dinner,
the size and the fact that India is the first to be honoured
with an official state dinner and visit is an indication of
the importance placed within the administration on their
relationship with the nation, ABC news reported.

The President and first lady will host their first state
dinner after almost a year into their White House tenure --
and after honing their hospitality skills with a governors'
dinner, assorted luncheons and countless receptions. The
leaders of the world's two largest democracies will have an
opportunity to bond in black tie, The Washington Post said.

If tradition stands, the details of the guest list and the
china pattern will be revealed in the hours before the dinner.

And if modern restaurant fetishes are any indication, the
provenance of every vegetable and soy product -- the
77-year-old prime minister is a vegetarian -- will doubtless
be detailed, according to the Post.

Since independence, almost all Indian prime ministers have
attended dinners at the White House -- starting from
Jawaharlal Nehru -- but all were not formal state dinners
which are held in honour of foreign heads of state or
government.

The federal government pays for state dinners and they are
always preceded by a state arrival ceremony on the South Lawn
earlier in the day.

The five-course dinner hosted by President Harry Truman
for Nehru in October 1949 was held at the Blair House across
the road as the White House was under repair. In the menu was
roasted turkey, ginger ale and peach salad among other
delicacies.

In December 16, 1956, President Dwight D Eisenhower
hosted Nehru's daughter Indira Gandhi, along with him, to a
Sunday lunch. Indira returned to White House as Prime Minister
during the Lyndon B Johnson Administration on March 28, 1966.

Five years later, President Richard Nixon hosted Gandhi
at the majestic State Dining Room of the White House, serving
pheasant, asparagus in melted butter and praline mousse
dessert. She had her third White House dinner on July 29, 1982
during the tenure of President Ronald Reagan. PTI SDG
SDE
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