A fresh round of tension seems to be brewing between West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee and the Narendra Modi-led Central government as the Ministry of Defence rejected Bengal’s proposal for the Republic Day tableau. Not so long ago – at least twice in the recent past in 2014 and 2016 – Bengal’s tableau had won the first prize among all participants on the Republic Day parade. This year, Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro will be the chief guest at the Republic Day parade on January 26.
According to reports, the tableau proposal was examined by an “expert committee” in two rounds of meeting before coming to the conclusion of rejecting West Bengal’s proposal. There were 22 proposals from 16 states and union territories and six ministries/departments shortlisted. This was selected from a total 56 tableau proposals (32 from states/Union Territories and 24 from Central ministries and departments) that the government had received. The selection is made on the basis of theme, concept, design and visual impact.
While Mamata Banerjee has not yet reacted to this, her party Trinamool Congress’ MP Saugata Roy has said that this was an act of “discrimination” by excluding West Bengal. In recent times, Mamata Banerjee has been leading protest marches and public meetings on almost a daily basis against the BJP-led government’s implementation of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) and the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), that has made the ties between the Central government and West Bengal all the more strained.
