NEW DELHI: Slamming the states for alleging that the exclusion of their tableaux from the Republic Day parade was an insult, central government sources said it is a wrong precedent, and stressed that it is not the Centre but an expert committee that makes the shortlist.
The proposals of Kerala, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal were rejected by the subject expert committee after due process and deliberations, they said on Monday.
"This is a wrong precedent adopted by chief ministers of states to portray the outcome of an objective process as a flashpoint between the Centre and the states. This goes a long way in harming the country's federal structure," a central government functionary said.
He noted that a total of 56 proposals had come from states and central ministries and out of these 21 were shortlisted.
It is natural for more proposals to be rejected than those accepted given the paucity of time, sources said.
Defence Ministry officials also asserted that a similar process of selection is adopted every year.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin have written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the omission of their states' tableaux and sought his intervention.
Excluding the tableau would deeply hurt the sentiments and patriotic feelings of the people of Tamil Nadu, Stalin said.
Expressing shock over the exclusion of West Bengal's tableau, which focussed on Subhas Chandra Bose on his 125th birth anniversary year, Banerjee said such a move would cause "pain" to the people of her state.
Several politicians in Kerala have also taken up the issue of the exclusion its tableau to criticise the Centre.
A source added, "This is unmistakably linked to regional pride and projected as an insult to the people of the state by the central government. This script also plays out almost every year. This is a wrong precedent adopted by CMs of states to portray an outcome of an objective process as a flashpoint between the Centre and the states."
This goes a long way in harming the country's federal structure, he said, adding that these chief ministers have perhaps "no positive agenda of their own that they have to resort to the same old trick using misinformation year after year".
The tableau proposals received from various states and central ministries are evaluated in a series of meetings of the expert committee comprising of eminent people in the field of art, culture, sculpture, music, architecture and choreography among others, they said.
The committee examines the proposals on the basis of theme, concept, design and visual impact before making its recommendations.
Due to time constraints, only some of the proposals can be accepted, they added.
It should be, however, noted that the tableau proposals of Kerala were accepted through the same process and system under the same Modi government in 2018 and 2021, and those of Tamil Nadu in 2016, 2017, 2019, 2020 and 2021.
The tableau proposals of West Bengal were accepted in 2016, 2017, 2019 and 2021, they said.
With this year's tableau of the Central Public Works Department, which comes under the central government, including Bose in its theme, any question of his insult does not even arise, the sources said.