Hindustan Times ST (Mumbai) - Live
16 states, UTs set to join parade on Republic Day
NEW DELHI: Tableaux from at least 16 states and other Union territories, with themes ranging from spiritualism to women participation, are likely to be featured in this year’s Republic Day parade, people familiar with the development said on Friday.
This will be the first Republic Day celebrations after Rajpath, the ceremonial boulevard, was renamed Kartavya Path last year.
HT learnt that the tableaux of Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Gujarat, Haryana, Jharkhand, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Tripura, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, West Bengal as well as the UTs of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu, Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh are likely to have been selected for display during the parade on January 26.
Uttar Pradesh, which won back-to-back prizes for its tableau in the last two years, has decided to feature the Ayodhya Deepotsav this year. This is the second time in three years that the state has picked Ayodhya as the theme. “A large idol of sage Vashishtha, the family guru of Lord Ram, will be placed on the front portion of the tableau that will also feature a large replica of a lamp, symbolising end of ignorance and the spreading of the light of knowledge,” said a senior Uttar Pradesh government official. Eight out of the nine states that are scheduled to go to the assembly polls in 2023 are unlikely to be featured. Only poll-bound Tripura has been shortlisted.
An official from Tripura culture department said the state’s tableau will be themed as “sustainable livelihood through tourism and active participation of women”. “Mahamuni Pagoda (Buddhist Stupa) will be depicted at the front of the tableau and the centre stage will showcase indigenous performing art forms, such as Hojagiri and Mamita besides SHG women at work, and women with baskets of pineapples,” said the official, also declining to be named.
A political row erupted in poll-bound Karnataka over the exclusion of its tableau in the Republic Day parade.
The opposition Congress attacked the Basavaraj Bommailed BJP government. Reacting to the development, Leader of Opposition in Karnataka assembly, Siddaramaiah tweeted: “Had they put in a little more thought in designing the theme, Karnataka could have presented its tableaux on Republic Day.”
The state government, however, said the tableau will not be showcased at the parade as the Union government set guidelines for providing opportunities to states that were not able to get many opportunities over the last eight years.