In a major disappointment for the people of Odisha, no tableau of the State will be displayed in the Republic Day parade at Rajpath in New Delhi on January 26.
A special committee of the Ministry of Defence has rejected all the five designs for the R-Day parade presented by the Information and Public Relations (I &PR) Department of the State Government.
According to reports, the Centre had asked all States to prepare tableaux for Republic Day parade with a theme on “Gandhi Connect” to commemorate the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi this year. However, the expert committee formed under the Ministry of Defence did not give its approval to the five designs prepared by Odisha during its first meeting held recently.
The panel has selected tableaux from 14 States while the designs of States like Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Himachal Pradesh, Assam and Kerala have been rejected.
Last year also, the Centre had rejected Odisha’s tableau that depicted Brahmapur’s famous Thakurani Yatra.