In 2023, the country will celebrate its 74th Republic Day. This time the chief guest will be the President of Egypt, Abdel Fateh al-Sisi. Due to Kovid-19, after two years a chief guest will grace the ceremony.
There has been an old tradition of foreign chief guests on Republic Day in India. Twice the leader of Pakistan has also become the chief guest of the parade. In January 1965, Pakistan's Agriculture Minister Rana Abdul Hamid was our guest and after 3 months in April war broke out with Pakistan.
Why did India make the President of Egypt the chief guest this time?
This will be the first time in the history of 74 years that an Egyptian leader will be the chief guest at the Indian Republic Day celebrations. This is a big step in terms of Indian foreign diplomacy. India wants to increase its reach in the Arab and South.
For this, Egypt, which has the largest population among the Arab countries and the second-largest economy in the south, is the best from India's point of view. This year both countries have also celebrated the 75th anniversary of their diplomatic relations.
The two countries also signed an MoU for joint training, defense co-production, and maintenance of weapons during Defense Minister Rajnath Singh's visit to Egypt in September. Egypt has also shown interest in buying the Tejas fighter jet made in India. India was also invited by Egypt to the 12th Defense Expo.
Egypt is also among the nine countries that India has invited for the G-20 summit to be held in New Delhi next year. India has also been exporting wheat to Egypt amid the Russia-Ukraine war. Apart from this, Egypt is also one of its oldest trading partners with India. There was a trade of about 33 thousand crores between the two countries in the year 2020-21.
Preparation from 6 months in advance to select the chief guest of the Republic Day Parade
The process of selecting the Chief Guest on Republic Day is started six months before Republic Day. Top officials of the Ministry of External Affairs discuss different names. During this many aspects are taken into consideration. For example- how is India's relationship with the country whose chief guest will be there? After this political, economic, commercial, military cooperation and other topics are discussed.
When all the experts involved in the meeting agree on one country, then the name of that country is sent to the Prime Minister. The PM, after consulting with his advisors, forwards the file to the Rashtrapati Bhavan.
After receiving the green signal from Rashtrapati Bhavan, the appointed Indian Ambassador in that country finds out the schedule of the fixed guest with utmost care. When all is in order, the Territorial Division of the Ministry of External Affairs starts talks with the Chief Guest. After getting consent from the other side, the final stamp is put in the name of the chief guest.
After this, the protocol officers share the minute-to-minute schedule program with the responsible officers with complete security.
France's highest number of chief guests in the Republic Day parade
Republic Day celebration started on 26 January 1950. The first ceremony was held at Irwin Stadium. In this, the first President of Indonesia Dr. Sukarno was made the chief guest. Nehru and Sukarno were considered very close. Both raised their voice for the independence of Asia and African countries.
In 1955, the Republic Day parade took place for the first time on Rajpath. The Governor General of Pakistan Malik Ghulam Mohammad attended the ceremony as the chief guest. Ten years later, in 1965, Pakistan's Agriculture Minister Rana Abdul Hameed joined. Three months later, a war broke out between the two countries. Since then date no leader of Pakistan has been made the chief guest of the Republic Day Parade.
The leaders of France and Britain have participated in the Republic Day parade maximum of 5 times. The King of Bhutan was the chief guest at the parade 4 times. In 1958, the Marshal of the Chinese Army Ye Jianying also appeared in the Republic Day Parade. So far, a total of 77 foreign guests have graced the Republic Day.
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