From the first Republic Day parade staged at Irwin Stadium in 1950 when India’s highest wartime honour Param Vir Chakra (PVC) was awarded to four Indian braves, to Pakistani and Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) dignitaries attending the event as chief guests in the same decade, to foreign soldiers marching down Rajpath for the first time in 2016, to the traditional wreath-laying being shifted from Amar Jawan Jyoti to the National War Memorial (NWM) in 2020, India’s foremost ceremonial event has come a long way over the past 72 years.
The configuration of the parade, its composition and its overall flavour have evolved significantly over the decades to keep up with the times, but what has remained constant is the extraordinary sense of pride and patriotism that the majestic display of India’s military might and rich cultural heritage evokes.
Mukesh Khetarpal, his children and his grandchildren will be glued to their TV screens to watch the live broadcast of the Republic Day parade on Wednesday, an emotion-laden event for the Khetarpal family. His brother Second Lieutenant Arun Khetarpal, one of India’s best known military heroes, was posthumously awarded the hallowed PVC by President VV Giri at the 1972 Republic Day parade, the honour received by their mother Maheshwari Khetarpal.
Mukesh was just 20 and seated in one of the stands along with his father when he watched his mother accept Arun’s PVC from the President.
“Over the years, we have seen brave men and their kin accept the highest military honours from the President at the parade. We connect with them in those solemn moments. The parade’s format keeps changing but it still makes us numb and proud. It takes us back to 1972,” said 70-year-old Khetarpal.
His brother, Arun, is among the only 21 Indian soldiers decorated with PVC for their heroism in independent India’s history. He was only 21, and commissioned into Poona Horse only six months before the 1971 India-Pakistan war, in which he destroyed seven Pakistani Patton tanks in the Battle of Basantar fought on December 16, 1971, a glorious and unforgettable chapter in India’s military history.
At the first Republic Day parade held at Irwin Stadium, now Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium, President Rajendra Prasad awarded PVC to four Indian Army heroes for their uncommon courage in the 1947-48 Kashmir operations — Major Somnath Sharma (posthumous), Lance Naik Karam Singh, Second Lieutenant Rama Raghoba Rane and Naik Jadunath Singh (posthumous).
Karam Singh and Rane were India’s first living recipients of the military honour. PVC was instituted as a military honour in January 1950 with retrospective effect from August 15, 1947. Only the highest honours, PVC and its peace-time equivalent Ashoka Chakra, are awarded at the Republic Day parade.
Like Mukesh, the parade holds a special place in the heart of Brigadier Chitaranjan Sawant (retd) who has been associated with the ceremonial event for almost five decades as its leading commentator. The 88-year-old Sawant’s first commentary at the parade was on January 26, 1973.
“I still remember reading out Ashoka Chakra citations in the 1970s. Back in the day, the parade was not as grand but it evoked the same emotions. The President took the salute from a small dais near Rajpath. There were fewer security restrictions in the 1970s. However, things changed after PM Indira Gandhi’s assassination in 1984,” he added.
Security concerns have increased even more in recent decades.
The 1990s witnessed the creation of a separate security enclosure for the President, visiting chief guest, Vice President, Prime Minister, defence minister and the three service chiefs, said defence analyst Chandrashekhar Bhattacharyya.
“The Republic Day parade, however, has over the years been a reflection of India; as it was, is, and also a glimpse of our future,” he said.
Among the most notable parades in the past was the one in 1987, the event held in the midst of Operation Brasstacks when the Indian army moved tens of thousands of troops to the western border with Pakistan, along with armoured columns, artillery and rocket systems, he added.
“That year, the parade witnessed the largest ever participation of tanks and other mechanised elements,” he said.
This year’s parade is being conducted in the shadow of the third Covid-19 wave and will be witnessed by fewer spectators at Rajpath — only 5,000 to 8,000 people to be allowed entry to the venue.
The parade was attended by around 25,000 spectators amid the ebbing first wave last year, compared to around 125,000 people who would usually show up at Rajpath to watch the event in the pre-pandemic era.
The parade was held at Rajpath for the first time in 1955 (in the early years it was held at Irwin Stadium, Red Fort and Ramlila grounds), with Pakistan’s Governor General Malik Ghulam Muhammad attending the event as chief guest.
It was the first of the only two times that a Pakistani leader was given the honour — Pakistan’s agriculture minister Rana Abdul Hamid was the chief guest in 1965. Chinese PLA Marshal Ye Jianying was the chief guest at the 1958 parade.
This year’s parade will have no chief guest, like last year’s. India had invited the leaders of the five Central Asian states — Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan — to be chief guests at the celebrations, though no formal announcement was made in this regard by any of the countries.
The spread of the Omicron variant of the Coronavirus in the past few weeks and recent violent protests in Kazakhstan, which resulted in the death of more than 220 people, were factors that went against the participation of the Central Asian leaders.
Last year, India went ahead with truncated Republic Day celebrations without a chief guest after UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson called off his visit at the last minute because of the rapid spread of a strain of the Coronavirus in Britain. It is extremely rare for the Republic Day celebrations, seen as a high point in the country’s diplomatic calendar, not to have a chief guest.
Prior to 2021, the last time the celebrations didn’t have a chief guest was in 1966, when Indira Gandhi was sworn in as prime minister on January 24 after the death of Lal Bahadur Shastri on January 11. There were also no chief guests at the celebrations in 1952 and 1953.
The parade involves a massive logistics exercise and preparations begin almost five to six months ahead of the event, said Lieutenant General Asit Mistry (retd), who was the parade commander in 2018, 2019 and 2020. The preparations involve the selection of marching contingents, weapons and equipment to be showcased and various tableaux that take part in the parade as well as readying camps where the participants are to be accommodated.
Timing is the most critical aspect of the parade. “If it’s 90 minutes, it has to be 90 minutes. The parade is planned with clockwork precision. The pace of the parade — it may sometimes move a bit fast or a bit slow — is constantly monitored and corrections made in real-time. All contingencies are catered for. If a tank breaks down on Rajpath, recovery mechanisms are in place so that the parade is not obstructed,” said Mistri.
The parade will begin at 10.30 am this year, instead of the traditional timing of 10 am, for better visibility to the parade and the fly past. The parade formation will consist of 16 marching contingents, including those from the army, air force, navy and para-military forces, and 25 tableaux of various states, government departments and the armed forces.
Tableaux have been a part of the parade since its inaugural edition in 1950.
The flypast, consisting of 75 aircraft in India’s 75th year of Independence, will feature flying formations to commemorate glorious moments of India’s decisive victory over Pakistan in the 1971 war.
The Tangail formation will feature a vintage Dakota aircraft along with two Dornier 228 aircraft. The Tangail airdrop north of Dhaka — the biggest airborne operation mounted by Indian paratroopers — set the stage for surrender by the rival army.
The aim of the operation was to capture the Poongli bridge on Jamalpur-Tangail-Dhaka road and the ferry site on Louhajang river to intercept Pakistani army’s 93 Brigade that was retreating from the north to defend Dhaka. Around 750 men of the 2nd Battalion of the Parachute Regiment were involved in the mission.
The paratroopers defeated a force that was three times numerically superior and shattered the will of the Pakistani army.
The Meghna formation to commemorate a critical heli-borne operation during the 1971 war will involve a CH-47F Chinook helicopter and four Mi-171V choppers. IAF helicopters played a critical role in moving troops across the Meghna river in erstwhile East Pakistan.
This year’s parade also comes on the back of a political row over the eternal flame at the Amar Jawan Jyoti at India Gate being extinguished after 50 years and merged with the flame at the adjacent NWM last week.
The India Gate, a British-era monument, was built in the memory of around 90,000 soldiers of the British Indian Army who fell in World War I and the Afghan war.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated NWM, a monument dedicated to soldiers who fell in post-Independence wars and operations, almost three years ago, on February 25 2019. As on date, the names of 26,466 brave warriors are inscribed on the memorial, including the ones who fell in the 1971 war.
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