The military might of India was on display with the Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) trainer being showcased for the first time. The usual flight of Sukhois and Jaguars continued to add to the grandeur of the parade. Meanwhile, the parade also saw India’s rich cultural heritage being displayed at Rajpath with a large number of school
children regaling the audience with their group dances. The participation of the girl students, drawn from various schools, was particularly conspicuous with them presenting martial dances, apart from performing other classical and semi-classical dances. The daredevils, performing stunts on the motorcycles, continued to remain the toast of the crowd, which reserved the maximum applause for them.
This year’s Republic Day parade highlighted the nation’s achievements in the military prowess, scintillating display of air power as also the rich and diverse cultural heritage.
A major attraction was the display of the LCA Tejas, participating in the Republic Day parade on the Rajpath for the first time. The twin seater trainer version of the Tejas was displayed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO). The DRDO equipment columns included an array of Naval Underwater Weapons such as torpedoes, life support systems, submarine escape suit and the long-range solid state active phased array aadar.
The Indian Army displayed for the first time its new T-90 tank which attracted a lot of attention during the parade. In the other displays, the Army also showed their Brahmos Launcher System, Pinaka-Multi Barrel Rocket Launcher, Reporter Tactical Control Radar, NBC Recce Vehicle, Indigenous Pontoons Movable Section Brigade, Integrated Network Platform, Prahar-510 Armoured Troop Carrier and a flypast by the Army Aviation Corps Advanced Light Helicopter Dhruv.
Meanwhile, the Indian Navy displayed scaled down models of the aircraft carrier INS Viraat, Talwar kilo-lass submarine and the Mig-29K and the fourth generation fighter jet. The Indian Air Force tableau focused on Network Centric Operations based on the AFNET and the gigabyte digital information grid. Following the Indian armed forces came the cultural diversity in full display in 23 tableaux — 13 from states and ten from ministries. The number of tableaux on this year’s Republic Day had risen to 23 from last year’s 21. Rabindranath Tagore, Lord Buddha, Jammu and Kashmir’s Bandh Pandher, Tripura’s Kharchi festival, Punjab’s Mehandi ceremony and Bihar’s Maner Sherif were among the focus areas of tableaux from various states. The first tableaux displayed today was on the great Rabindranath Tagore by culture ministry and Sangeet Natak Akademi to commemorate the Nobel laureate’s 150th birth anniversary. A big bust of Tagore formed the foreground of the tableau with Santiniketan in the backdrop and depiction of a meeting Mahatma Gandhi had with the poet laureate. In another interesting feature of the parade, ex-serviceman, 87-year-old flying officer M.M. Shukla, a veteran of the World War II led one of the contingents of the auxiliary civil forces. The other contingents included from the Border Security Force, Assam Rifles, Coast Guard, Central Reserve Police Force, Indo-Tibetan Border Police, Central Industrial Security Force, Sashastra Seema Bal, Railway Protection Force, Delhi Police, National Cadet Corps and National Service Scheme.