Kolkata: Last year, West Bengal government’s proposed Republic Day tableau was on Kanyashree and Unity in Diversity. But it was rejected by the Centre. This time, the state government has proposed a tableau with Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose's 125th birth anniversary as the theme. Will Mamata Banerjee's tableau find a place in Republic Day parade this year?
Firstly, the state government was not invited to the last few meetings of the tableau committee. On the other end, Narendra Modi-led Union government has taken steps to celebrate the 125th year birth anniversary of Netaji. In fact, this year's Republic Day parade theme is "Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav".
Rejecting the tableaus proposed by West Bengal government is not a new phenomena. Previously, tableaus with themes like "Kanyashree" and "Unity in diversity" were proposed by the state government, which were all rejected.
Sources from the state government said that it is unlikely that the tableau proposed by Mamata will find a place in the Republic Day parade this year.
"On January 23, the event details for the Republic Day parade will be finalised. However, the West Bengal government is yet to receive any official invitation for the final preparation. There had been five meetings of the tableau committee and barring the first couple of ones, we did not get any invitations in the meeting conducted at an earlier stage. From this, we envisage that our tableau will be rejected this time as well," said a source of the state government on strict conditions of anonymity.
ETV Bharat tried to contact a couple of state ministers, but none of them agreed to go on record on this issue. Netaji's kin Chandra Bose also refused to say anything about this issue in front of the camera, until official intimation from Centre reaches the State. However, he said that it is true that the relationship between the state and Union governments is deteriorating every day but it would be unfair to involve Netaji's issue in that politics.
ETV Bharat also contacted another Netaji-kin and former Trinamool Congress Lok Sabha member, Sugata Basu. He too had only silence to offer.
According to sources, tableaus from Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Gujarat, Odisha, Haryana, Goa and Karnataka will find slots in this year's Republic Day Parade. The theme of the Uttar Pradesh tableau will be the newly inaugurated Varanasi Corridor. The theme for Uttarakhand tableau will be Kedarnath Temple. However, uncertainty still continues over the fate of West Bengal's tableau.
