NEW DELHI: Chief Minister Rekha Gupta and members of her Cabinet attended the 77th Republic Day parade at Kartavya Path on Monday, as President Droupadi Murmu unfurled the national flag and the national anthem marked the start of the celebrations.
The iconic marching song “Kadam Kadam Badhaye Ja” echoed along Kartavya Path as contingents of the Indian armed forces led the parade. Marching alongside them were select students from Delhi University, who had trained for weeks at the Republic Day NCC camp at the Cariappa Parade Ground in Delhi Cantonment.
Delhi Education Minister Ashish Sood, in a post on X, highlighted the Ministry of Education tableau, calling it “a remarkable showcase of India’s evolving education landscape”. He said the tableau reflected the transformative journey of school education under the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 and reaffirmed the vision of building a skilled and future-ready generation as part of Viksit Bharat.
Delhi, however, did not feature a tableau this year. In total, 30 tableaux, 17 from States and Union Territories and 13 from various Ministries, Departments and Services, rolled down Kartavya Path during the parade.
The Delhi government’s tableau proposal for Republic Day 2025 had not been approved by the expert committee, a decision the previous Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government had criticised as biased.
It was not immediately known whether the current Delhi government sent a proposal this year. According to officials, Delhi has presented its tableau seven times over the past two decades. The parade also witnessed several firsts. A mixed Scouts contingent, wearing heavy thermal gear and performing an operational role, participated for the first time.
The contingent was led by Lt Amit Choudhary, a second-generation Army officer, making the moment both a professional milestone and a tribute to his father, who had marched in the 1990 ceremonial parade. It comprised personnel from Ladakh Scouts, Dogra Scouts, Arunachal Scouts, Kumaon Scouts, Garhwal Scouts and Sikkim Scouts. The theme this year was 150 years of “Vande Mataram”.
Nearly 2,500 Artistes took part in parade
India celebrated the day with a grand display of its cultural diversity, economic growth and military prowess in a parade that lasted about 90 minutes. Towards the final flypast, a group of nearly 2,500 artistes, representing different dance forms of India, performed a mega show, centred on ‘Vande Mataram’.
Over 10,000 special guests were invited
Approximately 10,000 special guests from different walks of life were invited to witness the parade. This year, the enclosures for the parade were named after the rivers flowing across the nation — Beas, Brahmaputra, Chambal, Chenab, Gandak, Ganga, Ghagra, Godavari, Sindhu, Jhelum, Kaveri, Kosi & Krishna among others.