by Nadeem Qadir in Dhaka Bangladesh in an historical way became a part of India’s 72nd Republic Day on Tuesday amid COVID-19 pandemic when the band played a song dedicated to Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman filled New Delhi’s air as.
IAF fly past at Rajpath: One Rafale with 2 Jaguar Deep penetration strike aircraft and 2 MiG-29 Air Superiority Fighters, in Eklavya’ formation.
NEW DELHI: The 72nd Republic Day parade on Tuesday witnessed several firsts and first-time misses due to the Covid pandemic. A 122-member Bangladesh contingent, two IAF women pilots, IAF s newly acquired multirole fighter aircraft Rafale, troops deployed in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands and a tableau of newly constituted UT of Ladakh made their debut in the parade.
However, for the first time in over five decades the R-Day parade had no foreign dignitary as chief guest as British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who was supposed to come to India, had to cancel his visit at last minute due to a spike in new-strain Covid cases in his country. Also, this time there was no participation of military veterans and motorcycle-borne daredevils, who used to be the parade’s centre of attraction in past years. Due to Covid restrictions, even the
In November, when Army contingent and bands started arriving in the capital, a total of 260 tested positive for Covid, out of about 3,000 who had landed.
Two contingents of the Bangladesh military comprising 122 members from three services and military band march on Rajpath during the full-day rehearsal on Saturday.
NEW DELHI: When the 122 personnel of the Bangladesh armed forces will be marching on Rajpath alongside their Indian counterparts on January 26, they will not only feel proud to be participating in India’s Republic Day parade for the first time but will also be “expressing gratitude and respects to all those Indian military personnel who sacrificed their lives for the liberation of our country”.
Talking to TOI after the full-day parade rehearsal on Saturday, Bangladesh Army Colonel Mohtashim Hyder Chowdhury, who is heading the contingent, said, “It’s a great honour for us to become part of India’s 72nd Republic Day parade. Most of the parade personnel are from those Bangladesh units that were raised during the 1971 Liberation War. In fact, we are very fortunate to be part of the parade of “our friend” Ind