For the first time in 55 years, India did not have any foreign head of State as chief guest for the Republic Day parade on January 26, 2021. The United Kingdom Prime Minister Boris Johnson was invited to be the chief guest of the 72nd Republic Day parade, but the emergence of a new and a more infectious COVID-19 strain back home forced him to cancel his visit. By the time the U.K. PM had put through a call to his Indian counterpart, it was too late to send out another invite. India’s first Republic Day celebrations were held in 1950 with Indonesia’s President Sukarno as the chief guest.
India had invited Mr Johnson to be the Chief Guest at the event but the UK leader dialled Prime Minister Narendra Modi on January 5 and cancelled the trip in view of the outbreak of a new variant of the coronavirus in the United Kingdom.
This will be the first time in decades that India will not host a Head of Government or Head of State during the Republic Day parade in Delhi.
The last time such a situation arose was in 1966 when no Chief Guest was present at the event which was held days after the demise of Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri in Tashkent and the death of nuclear scientist Homi Bhabha in an air crash.
Foreign leaders have graced the Republic Day parades every year barring 1952, 1953 and 1966. The then Indonesian President Sukarno was the first chief guest to grace Republic Day in 1950.
In 2020, Brazil President Jair Bolsonaro was the chief guest.
In 2018, the entire Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) leadership comprising 10 heads of states were present at the Republic Day parade.
Credit : The Hindu
Picture Credit : Google
