For the primary time in 55 years, India is unlikely to have any chief visitor for the Republic Day parade, The Indian Express has learnt.
New Delhi has come round to this determination, a day after British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Tuesday referred to as up Prime Minister Narendra Modi and expressed “regret” that he wouldn’t have the ability to go to India to be chief visitor for the Republic Day celebrations. Johnson took this determination in view of the recent nationwide lockdown in his nation, because it responds to the brand new, extra contagious mutant pressure of the novel coronavirus.
Sources stated that it is going to be troublesome to ask any international chief at a time when international locations are nonetheless coping with the pandemic. This can also be too brief a discover for any international chief to be invited. Also, it may very well be seen as an undiplomatic gesture to ask another person, after a pacesetter has refused to attend the celebrations.
In 1966, no invites have been despatched out as a result of demise of Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri on January 11, 1966 in Tashkent. The new authorities headed by Indira Gandhi was sworn in on January 24, 1966 – solely two days forward of the Republic Day parade.
This 12 months, Republic Day celebrations could also be truncated on account of the pandemic. Last 12 months’s Independence Day celebrations had been scaled down as properly.
An invitation to be chief visitor at India’s Republic Day is a particular honour for the visiting international dignitary. New Delhi has been weaving technique with hospitality whereas deciding on the chief visitor. The alternative is dictated by numerous elements — strategic and diplomatic, enterprise pursuits, and geo-politics.
In the previous, the Indian authorities needed to search for an alternate visitor, as the primary alternative couldn’t make it. In 2013, Oman’s Sultan Qaboos bin Said Al Said couldn’t come resulting from a communication situation, and Bhutan’s King Jigme Khesar Namgyal Wangchuk, got here for the Republic Day. Similarly, in 2019, after US President Donald Trump couldn’t come, India invited South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, who attended the Republic day celebrations.
But, this time, in view of the Covid-19 pandemic, that appears unlikely.
