Rajnath Singh Writes to Bengal, Tamil Nadu CMs Over Exclusion of Tableaux From Republic Day Parade

Singh's letter to the 2 states comes after Banerjee and Stalin sought PM Narendra Modi's intervention over the rejection of tableau proposals from Bengal and Tamil Nadu. 

New Delhi: In a letter to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and her Tamil Nadu counterpart M K Stalin, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday sought their participation in the grand parade and asserted that the move to select tableaux for the national event is taken as per detailed guidelines the grand event. Singh’s letter to the 2 states comes after Banerjee and Stalin sought PM Narendra Modi’s intervention over the rejection of tableau proposals from Bengal and Tamil Nadu.

While Banerjee had expressed shock over the exclusion of West Bengal’s tableau, which focussed on Subhas Chandra Bose on his 125th birth anniversary year, and said such a move would cause “pain” to the people of her state, his Tamil Nadu counterpart stated that excluding the state’s (TN) tableau would deeply hurt the sentiments and patriotic feelings of the people.

Earlier in the day, Union Finance Minister Sitharaman took to the microblogging site Twitter and explained the procedure behind the selection of tableaux.  “States, GoI ministries & PSUs send proposals for #RepublicDay tableaux every year. The duration of the Parade itself is limited. An Expert Committee of eminences from the arts shortlist from those received. For RD 2022, GoI received 56 proposals; 21 were shortlisted,” she wrote on Twitter.

“Existing criteria and proposals for selection were scrupulously followed. Since @narendramodi became @PMOIndia: 2018 & 2021: Kerala’s tableau selected. 2016, 2017, 2019, 2020 & 2021: Tamil Nadu selected. 2016, 2017, 2019 & 2021: West Bengal selected”, she added.

Speaking to news agency PTI, sources said that a total of 56 proposals had come from states and central ministries. Out of these, 21 were shortlisted and a similar process of selection is adopted every year. They added that tableaux from these states have been approved multiple times in the past under the Modi government.