New Delhi : The President of Egypt, Abdeh Fattah Al Sisi, will be the chief guest on 74th Republic Day, 2023, who has recently accepted the Republic Day invitation. He used to be the defense minister and army chief of Egypt earlier. Every year, Republic Day is celebrated with the armed forces holding a parade in honor of the day. It is the day when our constitution came into force on 26 January 1950, making India a democratic republic. Sources in defence establishments said in 2020 that before the pandemic hit India, around 1.25 lakh people were allowed to attend the parade. But this year, only 5,000-8,000 people may be allowed to attend the Republic Day celebrations on January 26, 2023 due to the current COVID-19 situation.
The Government of India has opted to reserve the front row for special official invitees this year. The first line would be laborers and their families, duty road maintenance workers, and other nearby residents such as rickshaw pullers and vegetable vendors. This year’s Republic Day celebration will focus on ‘Common People’s Participation’.
As an independent, sovereign and democratic country, India implemented its constitution on 26 January 1950. Since then, India, being a democratic republic, holds a grand ceremony every year to celebrate Republic Day, and a foreign leader is invited every year by the Government of India. The initial four Republic Day Parades were held at various places (Red Fort, Ramlila Maidan, Irwin Stadium, Kingsway) between 1950 and 1954. However, in 1955, Rajpath was chosen as the permanent venue for the Republic Day celebrations. Indonesian President Sukarno was the first chief guest of India’s first Republic Day parade on 26 January 1950. Representatives of the United Kingdom and France have been invited 5-5 times.
Republic Day 2023: How is the Chief Guest Chosen?
In India’s Republic Day parade, the chief guest is given the country’s highest honor in terms of protocol, but do you know how the chief guest of Republic Day is selected? Six months before Republic Day, the Government of India sends invitations to the head of state or government depending on the type of India’s relationship with the country concerned. Before sending invitations, the approval of the Indian Prime Minister is sought in addition to the approval from the President of India.The main objective of inviting a foreign leader is to promote bilateral ties and to showcase the diversity and richness of Indian culture.
Let’s have a look at the list of all the chief guests in the Republic Day Parade (1950-2023)
- 1950 President Sukarno from Indonesia
- 1951 King Tribhuvan Bir Bikram Shah the king of Nepal
- 1952 No invitation
- 1953 No invitation
- 1954 King Jigme Dorji Wangchuck, the 3rd king of Bhutan
- 1955 Governor-General Malik Ghulam Muhammad of Pakistan
- 1956 Chancellor of the Exchequer R.A. Butler from the United Kingdom and Chief Justice Kotaro Tanaka from Japan
- 1957 Minister of Defence Georgy Zhukov
- 1958 Marshall Ye Jianying from China
- 1959 Duke of Edinburgh Prince Philip from the United Kingdom
- 1960 President Kliment Voroshilov from USSR
- 1961 Queen Elizabeth II from the United Kingdom
- 1962 Prime Minister Viggo Kampmann from Denmark
- 1963 King Norodom Sihanouk from Combodia
- 1964 Chief of Defence Staff Lord Louis Mountbatten from the United Kingdom
- 1965 Rana Abdul Hamid (Food and Agriculture Minister) from Pakistan
- 1966 No invitation
- 1967 King Mohammed Zahir Shah from Afghanistan
- 1968 Prime Minister Alexei Kosygin from USSR and President Josip Broz Tito form SFR Yugoslavia
- 1969 Prime Minister of Bulgaria Todor Zhivkov
- 1970 King of the Belgians Baudouin of Belgium
- 1971 President Julius Nyerere, of Tanzania
- 1972 Prime Minister Seewoosagur Ramgoolam, of Mauritius
- 1973 President Mobutu Sese Seko, Zaire
- 1974 President Josip Broz Tito, SFR Yugoslavia and Prime Minister Sirimavo Ratwatte Dias Bandaranaike, Sri Lanka
- 1975 President Kenneth Kaunda, Zambia
- 1976 Prime Minister Jacques Chirac, France
- 1977 First Secretary Edward Gierek, Poland
- 1978 President Patrick Hillery, Ireland
- 1979 Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser, Australia
- 1980 President Valéry Giscard d’Estaing, France
- 1981 President José López Portillo, Mexico
- 1982 Spain’s King Juan Carlos I
- 1983 Nigerian President Shehu Shagari
- 1984 Bhutan’s King Jigme Singye Wangchuck
- 1985 Argentina’s President Ral Alfonsn
- 1986 Greek Prime Minister Andreas Papandreou
- 1987 President Alan Garcia of Peru
- 1988 Sri Lankan President Junius Jayewardene
- 1989 Vietnam’s general secretary Nguyen Van Linh
- 1990 Mauritius’s Prime Minister Anerood Jugnauth
- 1991 Maldives President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom
- 1992 Portugal’s President Mário Soares
- 1993 British Prime Minister John Major
- 1994 Singapore’s Goh Chok Tong, Prime Minister
- 1995 South African President Nelson Mandela
- 1996 Brazilian President Fernando Henrique Cardoso
- 1997 Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago, Basdeo Panday
- 1998 French President Jacques Chirac
- 1999 Nepal’s King Birendra Bir Bikram Shah Dev
- 2000 Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo
- 2001 Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika
- 2002 Mauritius’s President Cassam Uteem
- 2003 Iranian President Mohammed Khatami
- 2004 Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva
- 2005 Bhutan’s King Jigme Singye Wangchuck
- 2006 Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz al-Saud
- 2007 Russian President Vladimir Putin
- 2008 France’s President Nicolas Sarkozy
- 2009 Kazakhstan’s President Nursultan Nazarbayev
- 2010 Lee Myung Bak, President of the Republic of Korea
- 2011 Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono
- 2012 Thailand’s Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra
- 2013 Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck, the monarch of Bhutan
- 2014 Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe
- 2015 American President Barack Obama
- 2017 United Arab Emirates Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed
- 2018 Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah sultan of Brunei, Joko Widodo president of Indonesia, Thongloun Sisoulith, president of Laos, Prime Minister Hun Sen, Cambodia, Najib Razak, prime minister of Malaysia, President Htin Kyaw, Myanmar, Rodrigo Roa Duterte, president of the Philippines, Halimah Yacob, president of Singapore, Prayuth Chan-ocha, prime minister of Thailand, Nguyễn Xuân Phúc, president of Vietnam
- 2019 South African President Cyril Ramaphosa
- 2020 Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro
- 2021 United Kingdom Prime Minister Boris Johnson postponed his visit.
- 2022 No Chief due to Covid-19
- 2023 Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi
Bureau Report
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