Image Source: Times of India

Agencies:

For the first time since 1966, no foreign guest at Republic Day event

Delhi
January 6, 2021

Weeks ahead of the January 26 Republic Day celebrations, at which he was going to be the Chief Guest, UK PM Boris Johnson Tuesday cancelled his visit to India citing fresh lockdown in England and the rapid spread of the new Coronavirus strain.

Both sides played down the development with Johnson reiterating his �keenness" to visit India in the near future in a phone call to PM Narendra Modi and the latter expressing his understanding, according to a statement issued by the Indian Government of the "exceptional situation" in the UK, while conveying his best wishes for the quick control of the pandemic.

While Johnson again thanked India for its invitation for him as the Chief Guest of the forthcoming Republic Day, his decision has left India with hardly any time to look for a new guest for the likely curtailed celebrations this month. India may not have any guest at all for the Republic Day parade this year, assuming the parade will still happen. In that case, this will be the first time since 1966 that there will be no invite to a foreign leader for Republic Day.

The name of the Republic Day guest is generally finalized and announced months in advance. The only time it got delayed in recent times was in 2018 when the suspense ended only in early December with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa accepting the invite for 2019 celebrations after it was declined by President Donald Trump.

India had recently announced that it would resume limited flights to UK from January 8. England though went into new and complete lockdown Monday after a fresh surge in COVID cases.

PM Modi said he looked forward to receiving Johnson in India at the earliest opportunity after normalization of the situation.