Bengal, Kerala, now TN! Tableau row simmers

TN CM Stalin writes to PM on exclusion of state’s tableau from Republic Day parade, says it will hurt people of state.

New Delhi/Chennai (PTI): The controversy over the rejection of the Republic Day parade tableaux of some states intensified on Monday with Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin joining his West Bengal counterpart Mamata Banerjee in seeking Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s immediate intervention.

While some leaders from the non-BJP ruled states including Kerala alleged that it was an “insult” by the Centre, sources in the Union government rejected the charge and decried the “wrong precedent” by chief ministers to portray the outcome of an objective process carried by an expert committee as a ‘’flashpoint’’ between the Centre and the states.

Stressing that the shortlist was not prepared by the Centre, they said the proposals of Kerala, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal were rejected by the subject expert committee after due process and deliberations.

A total of 56 proposals had come from states and central ministries. Out of these, 21 were shortlisted and a similar process of selection is adopted every year, the sources said and added that tableaux from these states have been approved multiple times in the past under the Modi government.

In a letter to the prime minister, Stalin said that excluding the Tamil Nadu tableau would deeply hurt the sentiments and patriotic feelings of the people of the state.

Terming it as a “matter of grave concern to Tamil Nadu and its people,” he sought the prime minister’s “urgent intervention to arrange to include the tableau of Tamil Nadu” that will showcase the freedom fighters of the state in the Republic Day parade 2022 in New Delhi.

This came a day after Banerjee shot off a letter to Modi expressing shock over the exclusion of West Bengal’s tableau, which focussed on Subhas Chandra Bose on his 125th birth anniversary year, and said such a move would cause “pain” to the people of her state.

Banerjee said that exclusion of the tableau, which also featured other icons like Rabindranath Tagore, Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar, Swami Vivekananda and Sri Aurobindo, “amounts to belittling and undermining the freedom fighters”. Her Trinamool Congress accused the BJP-led central government of “repeatedly” insulting “our history, culture and pride”.

Senior BJP leader Tathagata Roy also urged PM Modi to allow West Bengal’s tableau but made it clear that his request should not be interpreted as extending support to Trinamool Congress’ “petty politics”.

The Congress has expressed its dismay over the developments, with its leader in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury writing to Defence Minister Rajnath Singh.