NEW DELHI, Jan 26: Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto watched India’s 76th Republic-Day celebrations at the majestic Kartavya Path on Sunday, joining a select group of global leaders to have graced the nation’s biggest ceremonial event in the last seven decades.
Subianto’s presence at the grand parade came 75 years after Indonesia’s first president, Sukarno, attended India’s first Republic-Day celebrations in 1950 as the chief guest.
As the chief guest at the ceremony, Subianto witnessed a grand military parade and cultural performances along with President Droupadi Murmu, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, members of the Union Cabinet and a host of other dignitaries at Kartavya Path, the centrepiece boulevard of the national capital.
Subianto, a former defence minister, is the fourth Indonesian president to attend India’s Republic-Day celebrations.
The Indonesian president, accompanied by a high-powered delegation of six cabinet ministers, senior officials and a very large business contingent, arrived in India on Thursday night on a four-day state visit.
A 352-member marching and band contingent from Indonesia also participated in the Republic-Day parade.
This was the first time that an Indonesian marching and band contingent participated in a national-day parade abroad.
Subianto himself had taken great interest in the rehearsals of the Indonesian military contingent in Jakarta before it left for India, it is learnt.
Subianto held wide-ranging talks with Modi on Saturday, with a focus on expanding the overall defence cooperation between the two countries.
At the parade, India displayed its military might that included elite marching contingents, missiles and indigenous weapon systems.
Every year, India invites world leaders to attend its Republic-Day celebrations.
Last year, French President Emmanuel Macron was the Republic-Day chief guest, while Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi graced the occasion in 2023.
There was no Republic-Day chief guest in 2021 and 2022 in view of the COVID-19 pandemic.
In 2020, then Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro was the chief guest at the Republic-Day celebrations.
In 2019, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa was the chief guest at the Republic-Day parade, while in 2018, the leaders of all 10 ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) countries attended the celebrations.
In 2017, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan was the chief guest at the celebrations, while then French President Francois Hollande graced the occasion in 2016.
Then US President Barack Obama watched the parade as the chief guest in 2015.
In 2014, then Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was the chief guest at the celebrations, while Bhutan king Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck attended the parade in 2013.
The heads of state and government who have attended the Republic-Day celebrations include Nicolas Sarkozy, Vladimir Putin, Nelson Mandela, John Major, Mohammed Khatami and Jacques Chirac.
The then British Prime Minister Major attended the celebrations in 1993, Mandela participated as then South African President in 1995, while South Korean President Lee Myung Bak witnessed the parade in 2010.
In 2008, Sarkozy participated in the celebrations as the French president, while another French president, Chirac, graced the occasion in 1998.
Other world leaders who have attended the celebrations include Nepal’s King Birendra Bir Bikram Shah Dev in 1999, Iran’s then President Khatami in 2003, Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono in 2011 and President of Maldives Maumoon Abdul Gayoom in 1991. (Agencies)
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