States showcase their diverse cultural heritage, lay out their achievements and map a path to progress as they mark the 74th Republic Day. A look at some of the celebrations:
Madhya Pradesh
Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said the state’s second global skill park will come up in Jabalpur. He also said a new excise policy is being drafted to discourage drinking. He said a new industrial city will be set up in Jabalpur for which 332 hectares of land has been identified. Chouhan reiterated that his government is working to make Madhya Pradesh “self-reliant” on the lines of Prime Minister Modi’s “Atmanirbhar Bharat” vision.
Telangana CM KCR at the war memorial in Secunderabad. (PTI)
Telangana
Republic Day in Telangana brought to the fore the disagreements between the Chief Minister’s Office and Raj Bhavan. Governor Tamilisai Soundarajan unfurled the national flag at Raj Bhavan but Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao skipped the event. He unfurled the national flag at Pragathi Bhavan — his office-cum-residence.
Soundarajan felicitated Telugu music director M M Keeravani whose song from RRR won the Golden Globe award, among others. She did not take the lacklustre celebration lightly and hurled veiled barbs at the state government. She said that development of farmers means all farmers and not just those who own farmhouses — an oblique reference to KCR who owns one. “Constructing new buildings is not development, nation building is development,’’ she said in possible reference to the new secretariat building.
Jammu & Kashmir
“I want to tell those involved in the barbaric killings of innocents at the behest of the neighbouring country that we will avenge every drop of blood and tears,” Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha said at the parade in Jammu. In his address, he said that sustained efforts of security agencies have resulted in a marked decrease in terror incidents and that security forces have intensified direct attacks on the ecosystem that supports and finances terror.
He referred to his administration’s aim to transform subsistence agriculture into a sustainable commercial Agri-economy, adding that a plan of Rs 5,912 crore has been approved and training programmes are being organised to implement 29 projects over the next five years.
Artistes perform in Shimla. (PTI)
Assam
Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma appealed to ULFA (I) militants to return to the mainstream, saying that the insurgent group is the “last mile” in the state’s road to peace. He stated that after peace talks with the ULFA (I) are completed, “Assam will transform into an island of peace.”
Referring to ULFA (I) commander-in-chief Paresh Baruah Sarma said, “The atmosphere of that Assam in which Paresh Baruah first took up arms for the struggle is not the same as the atmosphere of the present assam. Today Assam is a new centre of development and growth, a foundation of poverty eradication… I won’t question anyone’s love for the country but I will certainly make one appeal, that Assam’s new generation has the right to a peaceful Assam… Times have changed. If the mindset of the people of Assam has changed, it is appropriate that the ULFA also be sensitive to this change… I appeal to ULFA troops to return to this Assam of peace and we will all work towards building the foundation of a strong Assam.”
President Droupadi Murmu and Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi during the At-Home reception at Rashtrapati Bhavan on Thursday. (PTI)
Uttarakhand
In Uttarakhand, the government honoured those who rushed to the aid of Indian cricketer Rishabh Pant who met with an accident on December 30. Haryana Roadways bus driver Sushil Kumar, conductor Paramjit Nayan and locals Nishu and Rajat — who rescued Pant from the burning vehicle — were each given a cash award of Rs 1 lakh, a shawl and a citation.
School students take part in the parade in Kolkata. (Express photo by Partha Paul)
Maharashtra
Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari greeted people on Republic Day and listed out programmes undertaken by the government of Maharashtra to make the state a one trillion dollar economy.
He spoke about a number of infrastructure projects in the state, including Metro lines, expressways, the Mumbai Trans-Harbour Link project, and the coastal road.
Army personnel perform Kalaripayattu in Bengaluru. (PTI)
Kerala
Governor Arif Mohammed Khan, in his address, referred to India assuming the presidency of G20 nations and said diligence and tenacity helped the country emerge as a world leader.
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan in his Republic Day message, said that to maintain India as a sovereign, secular and democratic republic and to ensure social, economic and political justice, Constitutional values need to be upheld.
TN CM M K Stalin and Governor R N Ravi in Chennai. (PTI)
Bihar
Governor Phagu Chouhan said that providing 10 lakh new jobs in the government sector and another 10 lakh employment opportunities in other sectors are among the priorities of the Nitish Kumar government. He said the state government distributed 28,000 appointment letters to youth in the last five months. Asserting that the state is committed to preserving communal harmony, he said, “The Bihar government is consistently working towards maintaining law and order. The strength of the police force has been substantially increased and actions are being taken against people indulging in illegal practices.”
All-women contingent of the Central Reserve Police Force (Express)
Uttar Pradesh
Governor Anandiben Patel unfurled the national flag before the Assembly building at an event which was attended by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath along with his ministers and officials. Besides the Army, paramilitary and police force, school students also took part in the event and put up a cultural show.
Two T-90 tanks, ICB-BMC Saarth, an armoured recovery vehicle, a network operation centre, two 105/37 mm light field guns and a 7.62 mm medium machine gun mounted on a vehicle were the highlights of the parade.
The Egyptian contingent included 144 soldiers representing the main branches of the Egyptian Armed Forces and it was led by Col Mahmoud Mohamed Abdelfattah Elkharasawy. (Express/Praveen Kumar)
West Bengal
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee extended her greetings to the people and urged them “to protect and uphold democratic ideals of justice, liberty, equality and fraternity as enshrined in our Constitution”.
“Together, we shall strive to build a nation our founding fathers envisioned,” she also tweeted. — With PTI Inputs