Republic Day: French President Emmanuel Macron will arrive at the Jaipur airport on January 25, a day before the national capital begins celebrations for the 75th Republic Day on Friday. Macron will visit famous locations like the Amber Fort, Jantar Mantar and Hawa Mahal in Rajasthan's capital before meeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi there, according to news agency ANI.
After this, Macron will arrive in the national capital on Thursday night. He will attend the Republic Day Parade on January 26 as the Chief Guest and will later attend an 'At Home' Reception by President Droupadi Murmu at Rashtrapati Bhavan. Earlier, Macron confirmed that he would visit India on January 26 and thanked PM Narendra Modi for the invite. This is the sixth time a French leader will be the chief guest at Republic Day celebrations here in the national capital.
New Delhi's invitation to Macron for the Republic Day celebrations comes amid a rapid upswing in ties between the two countries including in areas of defence and security, clean energy, trade and investment and new technologies. PM Modi was invited as the guest of honour in France's Bastille Day celebrations in July last year.
India and France also committed to cooperating in the co-development and co-production of advanced defence technologies, including for the benefit of third countries. In July, the Union Ministry of Defence approved the purchase of 26 Rafale (marine) jets from France, primarily for deployment on board the indigenously built aircraft carrier INS Vikrant.
French troops participating in Republic Day
A 95-member marching contingent and a 33-member band contingent from France will take part in the parade. Two Rafale fighters and an Airbus A330 multi-role tanker transport aircraft of the French air force will also feature in the celebrations. "Six Indians will be part of the French team," said the commander of the French marching contingent Captain Noel Louis, who belongs to the Corps of French Foreign Legion.
The Indians to be part of the French contingent are CCH Sujan Pathak (Chief corporal), CPL Dipak Arya (Corporal), CPL Parbin Tandan (Corporal), Gurvachan Singh (First Class Legionnaire), Aniket Ghartimagar (First Class Legionnaire) and Vikas Djeassegar (First Class Legionnaire).
Set up in 1831, the French Foreign Legion is an elite military corps open to foreigners to serve in the French Army with certain conditions. At present, it has almost 9,500 officers and legionnaires, comprising around 140 nationalities from all over the world, said Louis.
Preparations in full swing
Meanwhile, given Republic Day celebrations, no flights will arrive or depart from Delhi Airport between 10:20 am and 12:45 pm from January 19 to January 26, according to an official statement from Delhi International Airport Limited issued on Saturday.
In a first, the Border Security Force's (BSF) all-women marching and brass band contingents will participate in this year's Republic Day parade on Kartavya Path. An Assistant Commandant rank woman officer and two subordinate officers will lead a total of 144 women BSF constables marching down Kartavya Path on January 26 when India will be celebrating its 75th Republic Day in Macron's presence.
The Delhi Police on Friday prohibited the flying of sub-conventional aerial platforms, including paragliders, paramotors, hang gliders, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and unmanned aircraft systems (UAS). The C-295 transport aircraft of the Indian Air Force will participate in this year’s Republic Day parade for the first time, the IAF said on Friday (January 19). A total of 51 aircraft of the IAF would participate in the fly-past this year, an official informed. The IAF informed that the force will depict the famous Tangail airdrop of the 1971 victory over Pakistan.
The Indian Army will showcase the ‘Made-in-India’ weapon systems and platforms in the upcoming Republic Day parade in the national capital, and LCH Prachand chopper, Pinaka multi-barrel rocket launchers and Nag anti-tank missiles will be the main attraction of this year’s celebration. The LCH Prachand is the first indigenous Multi-Role Combat Helicopter designed and manufactured by HAL.
(with inputs from agencies)
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