A day after Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi over Centre rejecting the state's tableau for the Republic Day Parade 2022, Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday said that the tableau was considered in the first three rounds of the meetings of the expert committee, however, could not make it to the final list of the 12 Tableaux selected for this year.
Stalin on Monday had written to the Prime Minister seeking his immediate intervention into the matter.
"Excluding the tableau will deeply hurt the sentiments and patriotic feelings of the people of Tamil Nadu," Stalin had written.
Responding to his letter, Rajanth Singh wrote in his letter to the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister, "Ministry of Defence invites proposals for tableaux from all States/UTs and Central Ministries/Departments. The tableaux proposals received from various States/UTs and Central Ministries/Departments are evaluated in a series of meetings of the Expert Committee comprising eminent persons in the field of art, culture, painting, sculpture, music, architecture, choreography etc. The Expert Committee examines the proposals on the basis of theme, concept, design and its visual impact before making its recommendations."
"As per the time slot allotted for tableaux in the overall duration of the parade, shortlisting of tableaux is done by the Expert Committee. For RDP-2022, a total of 29 proposals were received from States/ UTs including the proposal from State of Tamil Nadu. The Tableaux from the State Government of Tamil Nadu was considered in the first three rounds of meetings. After the third round of meeting, the tableaux could not make it into the final list of 12 Tableaux selected for participation in the RDP-2022," he added.
Singh said that the selection of tableau is as per the prescribed guidelines on the matter.
Notably, the Centre also rejected the West Bengal tableau for the Republic Day Parade as well after which state Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee wrote to the Prime Minister urging him to reconsider his decision.
Earlier on Sunday, Mamata Banerjee wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the "rejection of proposed tableau of West Bengal for the ensuing Republic Day Parade" and requested to "include the tableau of freedom fighters from West Bengal in the parade".
( With inputs from ANI )
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