On May Day, Rouhani visited MAPNA workers while remaining inside his car, moving around the factory, waving for the labourers on their “International Day”.
According to Asr-e Khabar’s report, translated by IFP, it was a very decent move by the country’s president to pay a visit to the hardworking labourers and personally monitor the achievements of a domestic factory.
However, the photographs published after the visit were not so favourable. The hardworking labourers expected to see their president up close, and to have a rare meeting with him, not to see him being driven around the factory floor in a luxurious car.
This move by the President’s handlers was absolutely wrong. If they chose this method due to the large factory and a shortage of time, they could have limited the visit to a small part, walking among the workers in that particular part of the factory. There was no need for a visit to the entire plant.
If, however, the move was due to security reasons, it is still unacceptable, because the factory and the workers are no more of a threat than the cities President Rouhani usually visits. Thus, no security issue would have been allowed to happen.
A government that sees itself as part of the nation should be flexible with its formalities to some extent, and should behave in a friendlier way towards the people who voted for it.
