NEW DELHI: The decision to not include the tableaux of Kerala, West Bengal and Tamil Nadu at the Republic Day parade will not be revised, senior officials of the Defence Ministry said on Tuesday and noted that a total of 12 states have been selected to display their models.
The remarks by the defence ministry officials came amidst ongoing controversy over the tableaux exclusion, prompting West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin to seek Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s immediate intervention.
Some leaders of the non-BJP ruled states also alleged that the exclusion was an “insult” by the Centre.
Reacting to the controversy, a senior defence ministry official said, “it is not possible to accept requests from these three states’ and polite responses have been sent to their CMs explaining the long process of selection of tableaux.”
“It is not possible to revise or reconsider the decision as Tableau making process is a very long process and an expert committee takes these decisions sufficiently in advance,” the official added.
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.