The Great Indian Republic Day Tableaux Drama
The Great Indian Republic Day Tableaux Drama
One of the finest tradition of India Republic Day
is the presentation of states tableaux. But like all other occasions, at a time
when India is ready to celebrate its 71st Republic Day, with President of
Brazil as chief guest - a needless controversy has arrived. States like Bengal,
Kerala and Maharashtra have protested on dropping up of their respective
state’s tableaux. It’s politics at its best.
Tableau or Tableaux is basically a group of models
or motionless figures representing a scene from the story or a history. Indian
Republic Day has the tradition that selected tableaux from limited number of
states are allowed in the Republic Day parade. This has been since
independence. The official reason given for this is the limited availability of
time and resources.
The process of finalizing the Tableaux is also
clearly defined:
1. Every year, MOD
(The Ministry of Defence) initiates the process by inviting the proposals for
tableaux from all the states and UT of India. Additionally, Central ministries/
departments can also present their tableaux. In this invitation, MOD also
provides a list of suggestive themes. These themes generally rotate on
cultural, architectural or important social and economic development scheme.
2. All the states who
want to be part of the process submit their ideas. This is voluntary and not
mandatory.
3. Post receiving of
the proposal, these proposals are evaluated by a panel comprising a mix of
eminent personalities. The broad criteria are themes, concepts, visual
impact, etc.
4. Post that, there
are two round:
· In the first
stage, the sketch/design of the proposals are scrutinized and suggestions given
to carry out modifications. If the sketch/design is
approved by the committee, a participant is asked to come up with a
three-dimensional model of the proposal.
· On the basis of
three dimensional model, final selection is made.
The States Profile who are opposing on the basis of
their selection of Tableaux
- Bengal - In the last 13 years (2008 - 2020), only six times West Bengal’s tableaux is able to qualify for Republic Day Parade. During 2008 - 2011, for four years straight, West Bengal’s tableaux was not selected. It should be noted that at that time UPA - 2 was in power. The ruling party of TMC has also opposed the non-selection of West Bengal’s tableaux in 2018 by connecting it to the state’s pride. Alas, the reality appears far from aggressive tones.
- Maharashtra - appears again to be a curious case. Shivsena’s MP Priyanka Chaturvedi has written a long article in NDTV on the discrimination of central government by not choosing Maharashtra’s tableaux, though it can be argued that the article appears at many places as self-contradictory. Maharashtra qualified for Republic Day parades on nine occasions in the past 13 years. It did not qualify in 2020, 2016, 2013, 2008. Now look at this - 2008 - UPA 1 was in power, 2013 - UPA 2 was in power, 2016 - NDA was in power and in Maharashtra, BJP was in government, 2020 - NDA is in power and Shivsena is in government in Maharashtra. So all the four times, tableaux of Maharashtra is rejected, different parties are in power. This simple logic breaks all unnecessary opposition in this regard.
- Kerala - is the last
standing fort of communist has claimed discrimination year after year on
this topic. The past data confirm that Kerala in last 13 years, have made
the cut only 6 times’
Few facts in this regard :
·
As per the available record, Puducherry, Dadar and
Nagar Haveli, and Daman and Diu have not qualified even once for the Republic
Day parade.
·
The most successful state has been Jammu and
Kashmir followed by Karnataka and Assam
·
Bihar, a state that has had a JDU-BJP government
since July 2017 didn't qualify for Republic Day parades in 2018, 2019 and 2020,
even though the two parties are part of the ruling alliance at the Centre.
·
Similarly, the BJP has been in power in Haryana
since 2014 but it qualified on only two occasions since then.
·
The Congress has been in power in Punjab since
March 2017, but despite being a Congress-ruled state, it qualified in 2018,
2019 and 2020.
To sum up -
As stated earlier that protest for the sake of
protest does not solve any purpose. Also, too much protest decreases the importance
of issues and concerns which states might actually have. With the above
mentioned points, we can safely say that concerns relating to tableaux is
nonstarter - to start with.
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