The Trinamool Congress, Shiv Sena and Nationalist Congress Party, along with the CPI(M) slammed the Centre on Thursday, 2 January, after it rejected West Bengal, Maharashtra and Kerala's tableau proposals for the Republic Day parade, alleging that the BJP-led Union government has insulted the people of the three states.
Government sources, however, said the decision to include or exclude a tableau was purely merit-based.
Bihar, too, joined the list of states whose proposed tableau was rejected by the Centre.
‘Tableau Rejection Politically Motivated’
The Kerala government on Friday termed as 'politically motivated' the Centre’s decision to reject the state's proposed theme for the tableau for the Republic Day parade for the second consecutive year, PTI reported.
State cultural minister AK Balan said the defence ministry rejected the state's theme in the third screening and he failed to understand why the Centre has a 'hatred' towards the state.
"We had proposed a beautiful theme in the background of backwaters. We don't understand why the Centre has a hatred towards all these. The Centre gets into a frenzy when it hears Kerala or Malayali. There was no politics in that tableau. This was rejected in the third screening it seems. This is not possible without a political intervention," Balan said, according to PTI.
He asked why the state can't showcase backwaters or Kathakali or boats or anything that represents Kerala.
‘Centre Has Insulted People of WB’: TMC
The TMC said by rejecting Bengal's proposal, the Centre has insulted the people of the state for opposing the amended citizenship law. The NCP and Shiv Sena claimed prejudice against Maharashtra.
West Bengal Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Tapas Roy accused the Centre of being "vindictive" towards the state.
“Just because West Bengal has been opposing anti-people policies of BJP government, a step-motherly treatment is being meted out to the state. As we have opposed anti-people laws like CAA, the Centre has rejected our tableau proposal,” Roy told PTI.
‘Humiliating,’ Says RJD in Bihar
Bihar had put forward its tableau based on the theme of 'Jal-Jivan-Haryali Abhiyan' launched by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar in October 2019 to boost green cover and the ground water table in the state.
Opposition RJD lashed out at the NDA government at the Centre for “humiliating” the people of Bihar by dismissing the state’s tableau.
"They (NDA government at the Centre) earlier shot down Bihar's demand for special status and has now rejected a proposal to showcase its scheme through a tableau on the Republic Day... This is the truth of the 'double-engine' government trumpeted by the BJP," RJD Spokesman Mritunjan Tiwari said, according to PTI.
Supriya Sule Slams Centre for Rejecting Maharashtra’s Tableau
NCP MP Supriya Sule on Thursday said the government is behaving in a "prejudiced" manner after the Centre denied permission to the tableau from West Bengal and allegedly did the same to Maharashtra for the Republic Day parade.
“The Centre has rejected permissions to the tableaux of Maharashtra and West Bengal from parading on Republic Day. It is a festival of the country and the Centre is expected to give representation to all the states,” Sule tweeted.
She said the two states had played a key role in the freedom struggle and the decision to allegedly deny permissions to their tableaux was an "insult" of the people.
Shiv Sena's Sanjay Raut wondered whether there was a political conspiracy behind the decision.
‘Politically Motivated’: Kerala Govt Hits Back
Kerala’s Law Minister AK Balan said that the decision to reject Kerala’s tableau was politically motivated.
“Have you ever seen a central government which is against federalism in our country, which attacks the Malayali and gets into a frenzy when it hears Kerala? One of the leaders even asked if Malayalis have two horns. So this is indicating the present state of our country.”AK Balan, Kerala Minister told The News Minute
Meanwhile, 22 proposals, 16 from states and Union Territories and six from central ministries, out of a total 56 have been shortlisted for this Republic Day parade, PTI reported on Wednesday.
The ministry had received 32 tableaux proposals from states and Union Territories and 24 from central ministries and departments.
(With inputs from PTI, ANI, The News Minute)
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