Showcase Punjab’s Republic Day tableau at Bharat Parv in Delhi: Shekhawat to CM Mann

To diffuse the AAP-BJP face-off over the Centre rejecting the state’s Republic Day representation, Union jal shakti minister Gajendra Shekhawat on Saturday urged the Punjab government to showcase the tableau during the annual Bharat Parv from January 26 to 31 at the Red Fort.

At a press conference at All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Bathinda, Shekhawat said Prime Minister Narendra Modi conceptualised the platform of Bharat Parv to ensure participation of the states who cannot participate in the main Republic Day event .

The minister, who was in Bathinda for a two-day visit for the Centre’s Viksit Bharat Sankalp Yatra, distanced himself from the statement of Bharatiya Janta Party’s state president Sunil Jakhar.

Jakhar had accused Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann of “politicising” the non-inclusion of the state’s tableau for the Republic Day parade and alleged that the Aam Aadmi Party government insisted that the tableau carried Mann’s and Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal’s photos. He had alleged that this was one of the reasons why it was excluded from the Republic Day event. Jakhar, however, did not produce any proof to back his statement.

On Thursday, Mann, while interacting with mediapersons in Ludhiana, said that he would quit politics if Jakhar could produce a proof supporting his allegation. “If Jakhar can prove it, I will quit politics,” Mann said, adding that if he fails “he should then also not enter Punjab.”

“Only the panel entrusted by the Centre to audit tableau themes submitted by the states can share the reasons behind the rejection of Punjab’s proposal. Statement of our party’s state unit chief may have been based on his source of information, but I can neither authenticate nor challenge the version (of Jakhar),” Shekhawat added.

The minister said a 10-member panel, a majority of them eminent musicians and artists, was to assess concepts of the tableaus, adding that it works independently.

Shekhawat said during the 10-year tenure of the Modi government, the Punjab government’s tableaus were approved on seven occasions, and one should desist from “politicising days of national importance”.

“Bharat Parv is being organised from January 26 to 31 and Punjab can participate with several others. The main celebration event has a limited audience and the platform of Bharat Parv gives ample opportunities to the participants to have a direct connect with a huge number of visitors for six days,” he added.

To a question on speculations of the saffron party teaming up with the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), Shekhawat said the BJP was determined to contest on all 13 Lok Sabha seats in Punjab and there was no truth in the rumours of an alliance in the state.

AAP Punjab’s chief spokesperson Malvinder Singh Kang on Friday said they expected the state BJP leaders to stand with Punjab on the tableau row, but Jakhar told “lies” on the matter instead.

Reacting to Kang’s statement, Jakhar, in a post on X (formerly Twitter), had said he stood by his statement.

“I stand by what I said on Thursday. Sh @BhagwantMann ji, the problem with your dispensation is that ‘”Jhoothon ko sab Jhoothe Nazar aate hain (Liar thinks everybody is lying)”,” Jakhar’s post read.