Republic Day 2021: No Foreign Dignitary As Chief Guest For This Year's Parade, MEA Confirms

Previously, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson had accepted the invitation to be the Republic Day Parade chief guest but he had to cancel the visit due to the Coronavirus situation in the UK. Read on.

(File Image: PTI)

New Delhi: The Coronavirus Pandemic much like other important occasions has cast its shadow over the upcoming Republic Day celebration as no foreign dignitary will be seen as the chief guest this time.  "Due to the global Covid-19 situation, it has been decided that this year there will not be any foreign head of state or government as the chief guest for our Republic Day event," Foreign ministry spokesperson Anurag Srivastava said as quoted by news agency ANI. Previously, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson had accepted the invitation to be the chief guest of the Republic Day Parade this year. However, he had to cancel the visit because of the increasingly serious Covid-19 situation caused by the "superspreader" mutant strain in the UK. Meanwhile, the Republic Day parade at Delhi's Rajpath will also be more muted in nature with the number of attendees reduced from 1.15 lakh to 25,000. Only 160 children will be attending the event as opposed to the usual 600. Another restriction being children above the age of 15 will be able to attend. On another front, the union government seems perturbed about the farmers' call for a Tractor Rally on the same day which it sees as a disruption that "will be an embarrassment to the nation". The centre filed an affidavit to the Supreme Court stating "The right to protest can never include maligning the nation globally". The issue raised by the union government against the tractor rally will be heard by the top court in the coming days. WATCH | Republic Day 2021: NSG commandos rehearsed at Rajpath