BJP heeded Union government has selected only one state in Entire South India tableau for the Republic Day Parade that is from its own State ruled Karnataka
The other states left over in South India are Kerala Tamilandu Andhra Telegana are all non BJP Party ruled States .
Notably, the Union Government also rejected the West Bengal tableau for the Republic Day Parade even after State Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee wrote to the Prime Minister urging him to reconsider his decision.
Tamilnadu State boils over tableau
Tamilnadu CM Stalin on Monday had written to the Prime Minister seeking his immediate intervention into the matter. “Excluding the tableau will deeply hurt the sentiments and patriotic feelings of the people of Tamil Nadu,” the Tamil Nadu chief minister had written.
A day after, Mr Stalin wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi over Union government rejecting the state’s tableau for the Republic Day Parade 2022, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said that the tableau was considered in the first three rounds of the meetings of the expert committee, however, could not make it to the final list of the 12 tableaux selected for this year.
Rajanth Singh further wrote in his letter to the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister, and stated
“Ministry of Defence invites proposals for tableaux from all States/UTs and Central Ministries/Departments. The tableaux proposals received from various States/UTs and Central Ministries/Departments are evaluated in a series of meetings of the Expert Committee comprising eminent persons in the field of art, culture, painting, sculpture, music, architecture, choreography etc. The Expert Committee examines the proposals on the basis of theme, concept, design and its visual impact before making its recommendations.”
Annoyed over the development Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin on Tuesday said that the State Government has decided to showcase the tableaux rejected by the Centre for the Republic Day Parade in New Delhi, at a parade on the Marina beachfront in Chennai on January 26.
Besides, said the chief minister the tableaux would travel to key towns in Tamil Nadu for the people to see, according to a statement by the chief minister’s office.
“Shocked and sad over rejection of tableaux from Tamil Nadu for Republic Day parade without any reason. State tableaux rejected for Republic day parade in Delhi by Central committee will be part of Republic Day parade in Chennai; will be taken across Tamil Nadu,” said the Chief Minister Stalin in a statement.
Tamilnadu CM war path move has taken Political parties across the states by surprise especially BJP Top leadership
Kerala State Boils over tableau
CPI MP Binoy Viswam wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday alleging that the “rejection” of Kerala’s tableau from the Republic Day parade “reeks of political partisanship” and shows “bias” as eight of the 12 selected tableaux are from BJP-ruled states.
In his letter to Modi, the Left leader said the Kerala tableau celebrated the greatness of Sree Narayana Guru and its rejection is “extremely shocking and highly condemnable”.
“The decision is not only an insult to the legacy of Sree Narayana Guru but also reeks of political partisanship,” he added.
The Communist Party of India (CPI) leader said Sree Narayana Guru is one of the greatest social reformers of the country who dedicated his entire life to rid the society of the evils of the caste system and worked towards the progress of all.
West Bengal State boils over tableau
Expert committees may sit and earnest discussions be undertaken to select and reject tableaux for the Republic Day parade, but that does not mean that states whose tableaux are rejected will be given reasons for the decision.
This is the experience of West Bengal, which has had its proposal rejected for the second time without being told why. Apart from remarks about time limits for the parade, Bengal or Kerala, which has had its tableau rejected too has heard nothing.
If, in 2020, Narendra Modi’s government, or its committee, was not willing to let Bengal show off Mamata Banerjee’s programmes in the state, such as Kanyashree, the reasons this time are more mysterious.
West Bengal had proposed to honour Subhash Chandra Bose on his 125th birth anniversary, together with other pioneers and leaders of the independence struggle, especially from the state.
The Union rejection becomes even more puzzling in light of the fact that Bose’s birthday on January 23 was supposed to be the beginning of the Republic Day celebrations, with the birthday being commemorated as Parakram Diwas.
That the naming, too, was unilaterally decided upon by the Centre, which ignored names such as Desh Nayak Diwas proposed by the state, indicated the Modi government’s eagerness to claim Bose.
Post Protest Union government Stand over tableau
Government sources on Monday clarified that it is an experts committee that decides on the R-Day tableaux and not the government.
The clarification came after three Chief Ministers objected to the exclusion of the tableaux of their respective states.
The proposals of Kerala, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal were rejected by the Subject Expert Committee after due process and due deliberations.
Government sources said, “it is not the Modi government which decides on the tableaux. The tableaux proposals received from various states and central ministries are evaluated in a series of meetings of the Experts Committee comprising of eminent people in the fields of art, culture, sculpture, music, architecture, choreography, etc. The committee examines the proposals on the basis of theme, concept, design and visual impact before making its recommendations.”
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.
Therefore, a total of 21 tableaux would be shown at this year’s parade, they added.
Overall, there were 56 proposals to show tableaux this year, they said.
Points to Ponder
The Expert Committee been appointed by Union government and therefore distancing itself from the decisions of Committee is not a wise man job
Also it is important to note the process of appointment of Expert committee and the profile of its members and their governance rules are not made transparent by Union government as on date bounds to create suspicion in the mind set of opposition’s parties
Considering above better sense prevails for federal structure if Union Government of India allows tableau parade of all 28 States and 7 Union Territories (UT) which it represents ..
The word Republic denotes representation of people mandate is not it .. why then to be faddy over tableau ..
