Obama in India: First Lady Michelle Obama skips most events

NEW DELHI: Indian officials were left stumped on Sunday as First Lady Michelle Obama did not accompany the US President either for the ceremonial welcome at Rashtrapati Bhawan or his visit to Raj Ghat. Unconfirmed reports said she wasn’t well.

Michelle stayed put in the grand presidential suite of ITC Maurya for almost the entire day after arriving in Delhi before finally making an appearance at the President’s dinner at Rashtrapati Bhawan. Interestingly, the last time the Obamas visited India in 2010, Michelle had accompanied her husband both to the ceremonial welcome at Rashtrapati Bhawan as well as to Raj Ghat.

The wife of the Chinese President XI Jinping had also accompanied her husband to both these events in September. Indian officials said they are unsure why Michelle did not come for the events.

“We do not know why she didn’t come. We were frankly stumped. We had factored in her presence at both events,” a senior government official told ET, strictly on the condition of anonymity.

During the 2010 visit, Michelle had also gone separately to the Crafts Museum at Pragati Maidan. But this time, the US officials have not specified any separate engagement for the First Lady. “We do not know why a separate engagement for the First Lady is not on the cards this time,” the official said.

The couple’s trip to Taj Mahal in Agra was also cancelled at the last minute after the US President decided to cut short his India trip and visit Saudi Arabia on his way back home to pay tributes to King Abdullah who passed away recently.

Diplomatic sources on the US side attributed this to what seems a peculiar issue – given the “security issues”, the First Lady was supposed to travel only in the ‘Beast’ which is being used by Barack Obama. The schedule for the US President -- a ceremonial welcome at Rashtrapati Bhawan, followed by a visit to Raj Ghat and then head for bilateral talks at Hyderabad House -- may have left little time for Michelle to be dropped back to the hotel after the first two events. US sources did not explain why Michelle has no separate engagements.