India on Thursday put up a grand display of military prowess and cultural diversity in its first Republic Day parade down the renamed Kartavya Path with a raft of indigenously produced tanks, guns and missiles, elite soldiers on horseback, camels and motorbikes, women leading some of the biggest marching contingents, and jets roaring past an overcast sky.
The 90-minute parade showcased the country’s push towards domestically manufactured weapons systems, an Egyptian marching contingent, the first batch of Agniveers, women in key leadership positions, the debut of the Prachand light combat helicopter in the Indian Air Force (IAF) fly-past, and a number of floats depicting “nari shakti” (woman power). Unlike previous years, the ceremony was largely free of controversy.
“Best wishes on the Republic Day. This occasion is also special because we are celebrating it during the Amrit Mahotsav of Independence. We wish to move ahead together to make the dreams of our great freedom fighters of the country come true. Happy Republic Day to all fellow Indians,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted.
Roughly 45,000thousand spectators braved a cold and foggy morning to line Kartavya Path as President Droupadi Murmu kicked off the celebrations by unfurling the national flag. This was followed by a rendition of the national anthem and a 21-gun ceremonial salute, with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi as the chief guest of the ceremony.
The crowd included a group of special guests — the construction workers and maintenance staff of the Central Vista Redevelopment Project.
Modi led the nation in paying tribute to India’s fallen soldiers at the National War Memorial (NWM), a monument dedicated to soldiers killed in post-Independence wars and operations. Defence minister Rajnath Singh, chief of defence staff General Anil Chauhan, IAF chief Air Chief Marshal VR Chaudhari, navy chief Admiral R Hari Kumar and army chief General Manoj Pande received the PM at the war memorial.
The parade featured only locally made weapons and equipment, reflecting the country’s sharp focus on achieving self-reliance in the defence sector. This included the main battle tank, Arjun Mk-1, infantry quick reaction fighting vehicles, K-9 Vajra self-propelled guns, Akash missile systems and Nag missile system. An indigenous artillery gun, the Indian Field Gun, was deployed for the ceremonial salute, replacing the vintage British-origin 25-pounder gun.
Lieutenant General Dhiraj Seth, general officer commanding, headquarters, Delhi Area, led the parade, with Major General Bhavnish Kumar as his second-in-command. The parade included a mounted column of 61 Cavalry, nine mechanised columns, six army marching contingents, one each marching contingent of IAF and the navy, three Param Vir Chakra and three Ashok Chakra awardees, several military bands, and 23 tableaux.
Squadron Leader Sindhu Reddy led the 144-member IAF marching contingent at the parade, while Lieutenant Commander Disha Amrith led the naval contingent. Three women officers formed part of the army contingent at the parade, including Lieutenant Chetana Sharma who led Akash missile mechanised column. Lieutenant Dimple Bhati was part of the army’s “Daredevils” motorcycle stunt team at the parade.
For the first time, the navy’s marching contingent featured nine Agniveers – six men and three women – who began their training at INS Chilka in Odisha in early December. The navy’s first batch of Agniveers, recruited under the new Agnipath scheme, consists of 3,000 trainees including 341 women. The Agnipath model for short-term induction of soldiers into the three services is a major departure from the military’s decades-old recruitment system that was discontinued when the government announced the new scheme in 2022. It seeks to recruit soldiers for only four years, with a provision to retain 25% of them in regular service.
The Egyptian marching contingent comprised 144 soldiers. This was the fourth time that foreign soldiers took part in the parade. A French army contingent took part for the first time in 2016, followed by a team from the UAE in 2017, and a Bangladesh army contingent in 2021.
The fly-past, which formed the grand finale of the parade, involved 45 IAF aircraft – including Rafales, Sukhoi-30s, Jaguars, C-130J special operations aircraft, Apache attack helicopters, four army choppers, and a naval aircraft. The indigenous Prachand light combat helicopter, inducted into IAF last October, took part in the fly-past for the first time. It flew in the Prachand arrow formation with two Apaches and two Dhruv advanced light helicopters.
This was the first time in three years that the Republic Day parade had a chief guest, after two previous editions were truncated by the pandemic.
The states and Union territories which presented tableaux include Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, UT of Dadar Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu, Gujarat, Haryana, UT of Jammu & Kashmir, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerela, UT of Ladakh, Maharashtra, Tamil Naidu, Tripura, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and West Bengal.
From wide-ranging themes such as Naya Jammu and Kashmir, to Baba Baidyanath Dham (Jharkhand), Land of Heroes and Spiritualism (Assam), Tourism & Composite Culture of Ladakh and Durga Puja in Kolkata: Inscribing Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO (West Bengal), they attempted to capture the diversity of the country.