Defence Minister Rajnath Singh. (File) Responding to letters by Chief Ministers of Tamil Nadu and West Bengal on their states’ tableaux not being selected for the Republic Day Parade, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh Tuesday wrote to MK Stalin and Mamata Banerjee, saying the selection has been done according to prescribed norms.
In the letters, Singh explained the selection process of the tableaux for the Republic Day.
Banerjee had mentioned in her letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday that West Bengal’s tableau had featured Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose in the year of his 125th birth anniversary. Singh informed her through his letter in Hindi that Bose’s contribution during the freedom fight is “unforgettable” for every Indian, and keeping this sentiment in mind, the Modi government has announced Bose’s birthday on January 23 as Parakram Diwas.
The government, he said, had in 2018 celebrated the 75th anniversary of Bose’s Azad Hind Government, and also mentioned that the CPWD’s tableau this year pays tribute to him.
He pointed out that the government is beginning Republic Day celebrations from January 23 from this year, compared to January 24 conventionally. He assured Banerjee that the “selection process for the tableaux in the Republic Day parade is very transparent”.
He said proposals received from states and Union Territories are selected after multiple rounds of evaluation by a committee of experts from the fields of culture, music, dance and arts. It was through this process that West Bengal’s tableaux had participated in Republic Day parades in 2016, 2017, 2019 and 2020.
Singh said, “I respect your feelings and would like to personally inform you that out of the 29 proposals received from states/ union territories this year, 12 have been selected,” adding he hoped the letter would have resolved any suspicions she had, and expected her positive and important cooperation.
In his letter to Stalin, the Defence Minister mentioned the same facts about the “well established system for selection” of the tableaux. He said “as per the time slot allotted for tableaux in the overall duration of the parade, short listing of tableaux is done by the Expert Committee”.
Tamil Nadu’s tableaux proposal, Singh informed Stalin, “was considered in the first three rounds of meetings” but could not make it to the final list of 12. He said that the state’s tableaux were selected for participation in Republic Day parades of 2017, 2019, 2020 and 2021.
“In view of the above details, you would appreciate that the selection of tableaux is as per prescribed guidelines on the matter.”
Apart from letters written by Stalin and Banerjee to Modi over the last two days on the issue, Kerala officials have also said that their tableau wasn’t selected because it featured Sree Narayan Guru, while the Centre had suggested to them to include Adi Shankara.
Defence Ministry officials have insisted that the selection of the tableaux is done by the expert committee and there is no political intervention.
The states and UTs that will have their tableaux in the parade this year are Arunachal Pradesh, Haryana, Chhattisgarh, Goa, Gujarat, Jammu and Kashmir, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Meghalaya, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand.
Nine central ministries will also have their tableaux. These are Ministry of Education and Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, Ministry of Civil Aviation, Department of Post in the ministry of Communication, Ministry of Home Affairs, Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, Ministry of Textiles, Department of Justice from the Ministry of Law and Justice, Ministry of Jal Shakti, and Ministry of Culture.
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