No Guest for Republic Day
By Venkat Parsa| Published: 26th January 2021 4:44 pm IST
New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) Bipin Rawat witness a fly past by Indian Air Force (IAF) aircrafts, during the 72nd Republic Day celebrations at Rajpath, in New Delhi, Tuesday, Jan. 26, 2021. (PTI Photo/Atul Yadav)
The Republic Day Parade this year will have no Guest of Honour. This is happening for the first time in 55 years. The last time there was no Chief Guest at the Republic Day Parade was in 1966, as on January 11, 1966, Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri had passed away in Tashkent and Indira Gandhi assumed office as Prime Minister on January 24, 1966, and there was hardly any time left for going through the formalities.