On This Republic Day History Is Repeated
On this Republic day 26th of january 2018 once again the history is repeated. On January 26, 1950 when India celebrated its first Republic Day, the chief guest was south-east Asian strongman Sukarno. Sixty-eight years on, India has again invited an Indonesian President, Joko Widodo, to share the honour. This year not only the Indonesian President is the guest of honour but nine other heads of the Asean countries witness India’s display of its military might and cultural diversity during the republic day parade.
The aim was to showcase the Act East policy, the Narendra Modi government’s move to invite 10 heads of Asean (Association of South-East Asian Nations) countries together is “unprecedented” as India has never ever invited more than two guests on Republic day in the past.
As the list of honorable guests has been broadened, the VIP stand on Rajpath can accommodate 10 heads of state — Myanmar state counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi, Indonesian President Joko Widodo, Singapore PM Lee Hsien Loong, Malyasian PM Najib Razak, Thailand PM Prayut Chan-o-cha, Vietnamese PM Nguyen Xuan Phuc, Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte, Cambodian PM Hun Sen, Laos PM Thongloun Sisoulith and Sultan of Brunei Hassanal Bolkiah.
Major General Rajpal Punia, the second-in-command of the parade said, “To showcase unity in diversity, Indian military personnel carried the flags of 10 Asean countries along with the Tricolour during the 90-minute parade. Among the 23 tableaux on display, two tableaux were on Asean countries that highlights education, trade, culture and religion in these countries.
The major attractions of the parade was the display of BrahMos supersonic cruise missile and Akash surface-to-air missile. For the first time, ‘narishakti’ was on display as a BSF women contingent showed their stunts on motorcycles.” This 113-member women contingent, led by sub-inspector Stanzin Noryang, 28, from Ladakh region, was the first all-women contingent from any force to perform biking stunts at the annual mega event. They performed 16 types of breathtaking stunts.
The R-Day invite to the Asean heads of state comes at a time when both the south-east Asian bloc and India completes 50 years of formation in 2017. The year also marked 25 years of India’s partnership with the grouping.