R-Day tableau row: Defence minister clarifies, TMC says it's 'political vendetta'

Kolkata: As the rejection of Bengal's tableau for the Republic Day parade in Delhi snowballed into a major controversy and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee expressed her "shock" over the developments, Defence minister Rajnath Singh, on Tuesday, wrote to Banerjee informing her that the CPWD's float for the occasion pays homage to Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose on his 125th birth anniversary, however, Trinamool Congress (TMC) leaders claimed 'political vendetta' as the only reason for the cancellation of Bengal's tableau.

In his letter, Singh hinted since the Central Public Works Department's tableau already featured Bose, Bengal's float was not included in the parade, without saying it in so many words.

TMC leader Sukendu Sekhar Roy said: "The rejection of our tableau is purely out of political vendetta. If the committee consisting of prominent personalities in the fields of painting, sculpture, music, architecture and choreography selects the tableau, the committee is selected by the Union Defence ministry. They can accept the tableau of CPWD on Netaji, but not from Bengal." According to Roy, this is not the first time that the Centre has rejected the tableau of Bengal. Earlier, when we had selected the Kanyashree theme (empowering girls by helping them fund their education till post-graduation) in 2020 it was rejected by the Center. Kanyashree received accolades from the United Nations.

Shantanu Sen, TMC MP said: "The Union government wants to indulge in petty politics and that is why they are clarifying cancelling the tableau. Union Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman's tweet that mentions stopping politics on petty issues which entails a celebration of India signifies that they have indulged in politics. The Centre cannot accept Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's popularity and that is why they have made this as an excuse to exclude Bengal's tableau this year."

"This is nothing but a ploy not to project Bengal in the national capital in the Republic Day parade amidst a host of representatives from various parts of India and the world. The argument that has been put forward by the Union defence minister for the clarification of the rejection of their tableau is just an excuse," added Roy.

According to the letter issued by the committee formed by the Union Defence ministry, proposals for tableau selection were to be sent in by September 27, 2021, and the selection process was slated to begin by the second week of October. Once submitted, proposals for the tableau are evaluated in a series of meetings of the expert committee. In the first phase of selection, the sketches/designs of the proposals will be scrutinized and suggestions, if any, will be given to carry out modifications.

Once the designs are approved, participants are asked to submit 3D models of their proposals.

The selection depends upon a combination of factors including, but not limited to, visual appeal, impact on the masses, idea/theme of the tableau, degree of detail involved in the tableau, the music accompanying it etc. The projects have to be cleared from the subject expert committee too.

It should be noted that the tableau proposals of Bengal were accepted through the same process and system under the same Modi government in 2016, 2017, 2019 and 2021.