UT zeroes in on doll museums as theme for Republic Day parade parade tableau

At the International Dolls Museum in Sector 23, Chandigarh. Express Archives

FOR THE selection of its tableau in the Republic Day parade at Rajpath in Delhi, the national panel of Ministry of Defence has asked the UT Administration not to come up with the repetitive concept of Le Corbusier’s Capitol Complex, Assembly buildings or Nek Chand’s Rock Garden every time. As a result, the administration has now decided to showcase doll museums in its tableau.

Chandigarh has two doll museums: the International Dolls Museum and Rag Doll Museum. There have been three rounds of meetings of UT officials with the jury members. As per norms, states and UTs willing to participate in the parade have to send proposed theme of their tableau to the national panel of MoD. The best 25 themes from across the country, including states and ministries, showcasing India’s cultural diversity and military might are picked.

A senior official of the UT Administration, who was part of the meeting, said, “We had gone with four to five themes. The jury members of MoD said that there has to be nothing which directly or indirectly makes a reference to Le Corbusier’s work or UNESCO world heritage or Rock Garden as it was being very repetitive. They said we should show something new about Chandigarh, so we have zeroed in on the concept of doll museums.”

Themes of “Capitol Complex”, “Chandigarh — care of body and spirit” and “Garden city” were shown to the jury but they failed to impress the panel.

The International Dolls Museum, which is being planned to be showcased for the selection, is situated in Sector 23. It houses approximately 250 dolls from countries like Russia, Denmark, Netherlands, Germany, Spain and Korea. The Rag Doll Museum which is at the Rock Garden too would form part of this theme.

According to Home Secretary Anurag Aggarwal, the Government College of Arts, Lalit Kala Akademi and others are helping in the designing so that Chandigarh makes it to the tableau selection.

So far, tableau of Chandigarh participated in the Republic Day function on four occasions. On two occasions, the theme was Rock Garden. In 2014, the tableau of Chandigarh depicting Rock Garden, a sculpture garden created by Nek Chand, participated in the parade after a gap of 13 years. Prior to that, all the proposals mooted by the administration failed to impress the national panel.

In 2015, the Ministry of Defence had rejected both the themes — works of Le Corbusier and Rose Festival — proposed by the administration for its tableau. However, in 2016, the tableau highlighting Chandigarh’s architecture, elements of green and smart city took part in the parade.

In this year’s parade, Chandigarh couldn’t participate as it failed to conceptualise a theme on time. UT has been making efforts for next year’s Republic Day celebrations now.