As the rejection of West Bengal's tableau for the Republic Day parade snowballed into a major controversy, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh Tuesday wrote to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee informing her that the CPWD's float for the occasion pays homage to Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose on his 125th birth anniversary.

Rajnath also sent a letter to Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin informing him that the selection of tableaux for this year's Republic Day parade has been done as per the prescribed guidelines, a day after Stalin wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi complaining about the exclusion of his state's model.

In his letter to Mamata, Singh hinted since the Central Public Works Department's tableau already featured Bose, West Bengal's float was not included in the parade, without saying it in so many words.

He also reminded her about the importance the Narendra Modi government attached to the iconic freedom fighter.

"Our government had celebrated in 2018 with great fanfare the 75th anniversary of the government Netaji formed in exile in 1943. It was our government which included the living soldiers of the Azad Hind Fauj (Indian National Army) in the Republic Day Parade and felicitated them," he said.

In a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday, Banerjee had expressed "shock" at the rejection of the state's tableau, themed on Bose and his Indian National Army. The float also featured other Bengal icons like Rabindranath Tagore, Ishwarchandra Vidyasagar, Swami Vivekananda and Sri Aurobindo.

Banerjee, while urging the prime minister to reconsider the decision, said not doing that will cause "pain" to the people of West Bengal. She had said no reason was put forth for rejecting the tableau.

Anita Bose Pfaff, the only child of Bose, had said on Monday the legendary freedom fighter's legacy has often been "partly exploited" for political reasons.

She minced no words while acknowledging the fanfare that marked the start of the 125th birth anniversary year celebrations of Bose in 2021 in Kolkata had something to do with the elections in West Bengal.

".....the opening of the anniversary year was celebrated in a bigger way, of all places in Kolkata, had something to do with election and election prospects in Bengal. The fact that nothing happened this year....certainly the issue is not as important as last year," she told PTI in an exclusive interview.

In his communication to Banerjee, Singh continued: "Here, I will like to convey to you that this time the CPWD's float also pays homage to Netaji Sibhas Chandra Bose on his 125th birth anniversary. All these facts bear testimony to the importance being accorded to the birth anniversary of the great leader."

The defence minister said he hoped his letter cleared "all misgivings" the West Bengal chief minister had on the issue.

Stalin's grievance addressed

Responding to Stalin, the defence minister wrote a letter to the chief minister saying the proposal from Tamil Nadu was considered in the first three rounds of selection meetings but could not make it into the final list of 12 tableaux selected for participation in the RDP-2022.

"There exists a well-established system for selection of tableaux for participation in the Republic Day parade, as per which, the Ministry of Defence invites proposals for tableaux from all states/union territories and central ministries/departments," Singh said.

The tableaux proposals received from various states, union territories, central ministries and departments are evaluated in a series of meetings of an expert committee comprising eminent persons in the field of art, culture, painting, sculpture, music, architecture, choreography, etc, the minister added.

"The expert committee examines the proposals on the basis of theme, concept, design and its visual impact before making its recommendations," he noted.

As per the time slot allotted for tableaux in the overall duration of the parade, shortlisting of tableaux is done by the expert committee, he mentioned.

For RDP-2022 (Republic Day parade-2022), a total of 29 proposals were received from states and union territories including from Tamil Nadu, he said.

"The tableaux from the state government of Tamil Nadu was considered in the first three rounds of meetings. After the third round of meeting, the tableaux could not make it into the final list of 12 tableaux selected for participation in the RDP-2022," Singh stated.

However, during the last few years, the tableaux from Tamil Nadu has been selected for participation in RDP-2017, RDP-2019, RDP-2020 and RDP-2021, Singh noted.

"In view of the above details, you would appreciate that the selection of tableaux is as per the prescribed guidelines on the matter," he mentioned.