Republic Day Tableaux:
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi saying that she was “profoundly shocked” as West Bengal’s tableau for the Republic Day parade “was rejected without assigning any reasons or justifications.”
- She mentioned in her letter that the tableau was set to commemorate the contributions of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose and his INA on his 125th birth anniversary year.
- According to sources there will be 21 tableaux in the parade, with 12 from states and Union Territories and nine departments under the Central Government or independent institutions have made the cut.
- West Bengal is not the only state whose tableau has been rejected, Kerala’s proposed tableau featuring Sree Narayan Guru is not among the selected ones.
- Officials of the Defence Ministry, which is responsible for the parade and is the coordinating body for the tableaux, say that the selection is done by an expert committee, and asserted that there is no political involvement in it.
- Around September every year the Defence Ministry, which is responsible for the Republic Day parade and the celebrations, invites all the states, the Union Territories, Central Government departments, and a few constitutional authorities to participate in the parade through tableaux.
- The proposals had to be submitted by September 27, and the shortlisting of the proposals began in the second week of October.
- The participants have to showcase elements relevant to their state/ UT/ department, within the overarching theme.
- The theme given to participants this year was around 75 years of India’s Independence.
- The participants have to showcase elements relevant to their state/ UT/ department, within the overarching theme.
- The theme given to participants this year was around 75 years of India’s Independence.
- The Defence Ministry constitutes an expert committee of distinguished persons from fields like art, culture, painting, sculpture, music, architecture, choreography, etc, who help in shortlisting the tableaux from the proposals.
