NO FOREIGN HEAD OF STATE TO ATTEND REPUBLIC DAY AS CHIEF GUEST

India on Thursday said that there will be no foreign head of State as the chief guest for the Republic Day celebrations on 26 January due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.

“Due to the global Covid-19 situation, it has been decided that this year, there will not be a foreign head of state or head of government as the chief guest for our Republic Day event,” said Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Anurag Srivastava during a virtual press briefing.

India had invited UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson to be the chief guest at the Republic Day parade on 26 January. UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab, who visited India in December, had announced that Johnson has accepted the invitation to visit India.

However, on 5 January, Johnson cancelled his planned trip to India, stating that it was important for him to remain in the UK to focus on the domestic response to Covid-19, in the wake of a more contagious variant of the virus.

“The PM spoke to Prime Minister Modi this morning to express his regret that he will be unable to visit India later this month as planned,” the spokesperson said.

The cancellation of the visit was announced a day after Johnson imposed the third lockdown in the country amid rising coronavirus infections. The Ministry of External Affairs on Thursday said that there will be no foreign leader as the chief guest at the Republic Day celebrations due to the global situation arising out of the coronavirus pandemic.

Republic Day celebration on January 26 is will have a number of changes, including smaller marching contingents, shorter distance for the parade and fewer spectators, in view of the pandemic, government sources said. Only 25,000 spectators are being invited for Republic Day celebrations.