Chennai: The Madras High Court on Tuesday dismissed a plea seeking to include Tamil Nadu's tableau in the Republic Day parade. The petition was filed by advocate P. Babu. The petitioner had stated that the rejection of tableau hurt the feelings of the people of Tamil Nadu.
"India's 73rd Republic Day will be celebrated tomorrow (January 26). Following this, In Delhi Rajpath, Members of Three military wings parade and State's tableau depicting cultures of the states will also be held. This year Tamil Nadu's tableau was rejected to be part of Delhi Republic Day parade. Therefore issue Order relating to Tamil Nadu's tableau to part of Delhi Republic Day parade", the petition said.
In its hearing, the bench comprising of Acting Chief Justice Munishwar Nath Bhandari and Justice Adikesavalu sought from the petitioner a copy of the document showing Tamil Nadu had applied to participate in the parade, as well as the Centre's rejection order for the same.
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The Petitioner interjected, noting that no written order had been issued in this regard, citing Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin's letter to the Prime Minister regarding the issue. The HC responded by saying that there was no mention in the litigant's plea of the reasons cited by the officials to reject the government's plea, further adding that the court could not interfere on the 11th hour.
Chief Minister M.K. Stalin in his recent letter to PM Narendra Modi had objected to Tamil Nadu, among other states, not being on the list of tableaus for Republic Day, saying the state depicted freedom fighters such as V.O. Chidambaranar, poet Subramania Bharathiar, Rani Velu Nachiyar in its tableau. Responding to Stalin's letter, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh had said that an expert committee had rejected Tamil Nadu's tableau in the third round.
With agency inputs
