Indonesian President witnesses India’s grand R-Day parade

New Delhi: Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto watched India’s 76th Republic-Day celebrations at the majestic Kartavya Path on Sunday, joining a select group of global leaders to have graced the nation’s biggest ceremonial event in the last seven decades.

Subianto’s presence at the grand parade came 75 years after Indonesia’s first president, Sukarno, attended India’s first Republic-Day celebrations in 1950 as the chief guest.

As the chief guest at the ceremony, Subianto witnessed a grand military parade and cultural performances along with President Droupadi Murmu, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, members of the Union Cabinet and a host of other dignitaries at Kartavya Path, the centrepiece boulevard of the national capital.

Subianto, a former defence minister, is the fourth Indonesian president to attend India’s Republic-Day celebrations.

The Indonesian president, accompanied by a high-powered delegation of six cabinet ministers, senior officials and a very large business contingent, arrived in India on Thursday night on a four-day state visit.

A 352-member marching and band contingent from Indonesia also participated in the Republic-Day parade.

This was the first time that an Indonesian marching and band contingent participated in a national-day parade abroad.

Subianto himself had taken great interest in the rehearsals of the Indonesian military contingent in Jakarta before it left for India, it is learnt.