Telangana tableau fails to make it to Republic Day Parade, again

Hyderabad: The Telangana state government’s newest tableau idea has failed to find a place at the upcoming Republic Day Parade in New Delhi. This is the second consecutive year the state has been missing from the Parade.

For this year, the state had again proposed a tableau with the festival of Bathukamma as the theme, despite the very same idea getting rejected last year. The idea was suggested by the Information and Public Relations Department of the TS government. The 2017 tableau idea cleared six rounds of screening but failed the final seventh round. A committee from the Union ministry of defence selects the R-Day-worthy tableaux every year. For the 2017 Parade, it has selected 23 tableaux — 17 are from different states and six are from various ministries.

It’s believed that CM K. Chandrasekhar Rao was insistent on the Bathukamma theme, despite the idea’s rejection last year.  

“But we had made several improvements. We brought a 3D element and had even modified the audio track. We cleared scrutiny at six levels and now, we know that the idea failed to pass the final round. We are yet to receive an official communication from the Centre about this,” said Mr Bhaskar, deputy director of the I&PR, who attended the scrutiny-level meetings in New Delhi. Other officials meanwhile, say the tableau was removed to make space for other states.

Telangana, which was formed in the June of 2014, debuted at the 2015 R-Day Parade — with a Bonalu-themed tableau.