Centre clears Bengal tableau for Republic Day parade

Kolkata: The Centre has finally approved West Bengal’s tableau for the Republic Day parade on January 26. Tableaux from 17 states will participate in the parade at Kartavya Path in New Delhi.

West Bengal’s tableau, themed ‘Bengal in the Freedom Movement of India’, has been designed in keeping with the 150th anniversary of ‘Vande Mataram’.

According to Nabanna sources, the expert committee under the Ministry of Defence had delayed granting official approval to Bengal’s tableau. Even after five consecutive meetings, the committee raised objections over various details of the proposed design. Sources said questions were raised over why West Bengal had chosen ‘Bengal in the Freedom Movement’ as the central theme instead of ‘Vande Mataram’.

In response, representatives of the state government clarified that the theme of Vande Mataram had been integrated within the tableau, while Bengal’s role in the freedom struggle was highlighted as the overarching narrative.

It was also argued before the committee that the themes of tableaux from several BJP-ruled states, including Assam, Odisha, Rajasthan and Maharashtra, had no direct connection with India’s freedom movement or the 150th anniversary of Vande Mataram.

A Nabanna official said the state government, under the leadership of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, wants to showcase to the entire country how Bengal’s intellectuals, revolutionaries, writers, poets and literary figures worked tirelessly and made immense sacrifices during India’s freedom struggle.

The tableau will include detailed references to how Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay’s ‘Vande Mataram’ resonated in the voices of revolutionaries across Bengal and the rest of the country during the freedom movement. It will also feature images and biographical sketches of luminaries and freedom fighters such as Rabindranath Tagore, Kazi Nazrul Islam, Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, and revolutionaries Binoy, Badal and Dinesh.