West Bengal state Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee greets the crowd as she arrives to attend the Republic Day parade in Kolkata. (Associated Press photo)
The Mamata Banerjee government in Bengal fumed about being left out of the Republic Day parade watched by Chief Guest US President Barack Obama today.
"Bengal tableaux for Republic Day depicting path-breaking Kanya Shree initiative was not allowed. We repeatedly requested... Life goes on (sic)," tweeted Derek O'Brien, a parliamentarian of the state's ruling Trinamool Congress.
"We are very sad and disappointed," he told reporters.
Bengal officials claim that the tableau was rejected at the last minute. Its "Kanya Shree" theme on welfare programmes for the girl child was reportedly found similar to the central government's tableau on "Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao (save your daughters, educate your daughters)", the scheme launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi last week.
The defence ministry, which organizes the annual parade, reportedly told Bengal that a state tableau should give a broad picture of its culture, economy and history and not focus on just one scheme.
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who has a running feud with the ruling BJP at the Centre, reportedly decided against sending a new proposal.
The other states that were missing include Bihar, Tamil Nadu, Odisha, Kerala, Punjab, Delhi and Nagaland.
"It is unfortunate that some political parties are making political statements on this auspicious day. There is no scope for politics in this. The decision was taken many days ago," said the BJP's GVL Narasimha Rao.
Bengal had won the best tableau award at last year's Republic Day parade.
President Obama and Michelle Obama watched the parade today at Rajpath with President Pranab Mukherjee and PM Modi.