Picture : Twitter / ANI
The decision to not include the tableaux of Kerala, West Bengal and Tamil Nadu at the Republic Day parade will not be revised, senior officials of the Defence Ministry said on Tuesday and noted that a total of 12 states have been selected to display their models.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh wrote to chief ministers of West Bengal and Tamil Nadu, saying the move to select tableaux for the January 26 parade are taken as per detailed guidelines and seeking their participation in the grand event.
In his letter to Banerjee, Singh noted that the Narendra Modi government holds Netaji in high regard and observes his birth anniversary, January 23, as ‘Parakram Diwas’. He also said that from now on, Republic Day celebrations will begin with his birth anniversary and conclude on January 30.
He added that the process to select tableaux for the Republic Day parade is transparent and follows set guidelines. A committee comprising personalities from the spheres of art, culture, music and dance examines design proposals sent in by the states and decides on which ones to be selected, he said in his letter.
In the letter to the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister, Singh again stressed that selection of tableaux is done as per the laid-out guidelines and added that while the state’s design cleared the first three rounds of meetings, it could not make it to the final list of 12 selected tableaux.
He hoped that the letter would address concerns and both states would join the celebrations.
“Tamil Nadu’s tableaux could not make it into the final list of 12 tableaux selected for participation in the Republic Day Parade. This is also to bring to your kind info that during the last few years, tableaux from the state govt of Tamil Nadu has been selected for participation in R-Day during 2017, 2019, 2020 and 2021,” Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said.
The remarks by the defence ministry officials came amidst ongoing controversy over the tableaux exclusion, prompting West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin to seek Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s immediate intervention.
Officials said tableaux of Arunachal Pradesh, Haryana, Chhattisgarh, Goa, Gujarat, Jammu and Kashmir, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Meghalaya, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand will be shown at this year’s parade.
Moreover, tableaux of nine ministries and departments of the Central government will be shown at this year’s parade, they stated. These nine tableaux would be Education and Skill Development, Civil Aviation, Communications and Posts, Home Affairs, Housing, Textiles, Law and Justice, Jal Shakti and Culture, they added.
