Only 22 of 56 R-Day tableau proposals accepted: Govt

As West Bengal and Maharashtra cried foul over rejection of their Republic Day tableau proposals, the Defence Ministry said, here on Thursday, of the 56 proposals, comprising 32 from states and Union Territories and 24 from Ministries and Departments, only 22 were accepted.

Of these 22 proposals, 16 were from states and UTs, and six from Ministries and Departments, it said. They were shortlisted after a series of five meetings, it added.

The 16 states and UTs, whose tableau proposals have been accepted, are: Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Chhattisgarh, Goa, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, J&K, Karnataka, MP, Meghalaya, Odisha, Punjab, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Telangana and UP.

"The other tableau proposals were rejected as they didn't match the panel's expectation," said a senior Defence Ministry officer.

The six Ministries and Departments, whose proposals made to the shortlist, are the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade, the Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation, the Department of Financial Services, the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and the Central Public Works Department (CPWD) under the Ministry of Home Affairs, and the Ministry of Shipping.

Over the rejection of tableau proposals of Maharashtra and West Bengal, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) parliamentarian Supriya Sule alleged the Centre was behaving in a "prejudiced" manner.

The two states had played a key role in the freedom struggle and the decision to deny permission to their tableaux was an "insult of the people".

"The Centre has rejected permission to tableaux of Maharashtra and West Bengal from parading on the Republic Day. It is a festival of the country and the Centre is expected to give representation to all the states," Sule tweeted.

But the government was behaving in a prejudiced manner, giving step-motherly treatment to the states being ruled by non-BJP parties, she added.

Earlier in the day, the Trinamool Congress (TMC) criticised the Centre over rejection of West Bengal's Republic Day tableau and called it discriminatory. The state was being targeted for opposing the new citizenship law (CAA) and a proposed nationwide National Register of Citizens (NRC), it said.

"This is discriminatory. They (Centre) are trying to target us for opposing the Citizenship (Amendment) Act and the proposed NRC," said Sougata Roy, senior TMC MP.

( With inputs from IANS )