Parade that announced the birth of the Republic

n Republic Day today, as the 76th Republic Day Parade rolls down the imposing Kartavya Path (earlier Raj Path), how many of you know where this celebration and Parade took place on the same day in 1950? Few eyewitnesses remain, and most, including myself, were not born then.

- Pavan K Varma

On January 26, 1950, the Parade took place in the grounds of a somewhat run-down building called the Irwin Amphitheatre, renamed in 1951 as the National Stadium (now the Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium). It stands next to India Gate and was built as a gift by the Maharaja of Bhavnagar in 1933, who "appropriately" named it the Irwin Amphitheatre after Lord Irwin, the former Viceroy of India, who had inaugurated New Delhi in February 1931 as the new British capital of India.

Rajendra Prasad, the first President of the Republic, was sworn in as President on January 26 at 10:24 am in the imposing Durbar Hall at Rashtrapati Bhavan by the Chief Justice of India, Patanjali Shastri. After assuming office, Prasad gave a short speech, significantly first in Hindi and then in English. The Parade began at 2:30 pm, when the President rode in a renovated 35-year-old State carriage drawn by six handsome Australian horses, escorted (as now) by the President's Bodyguard. President Sukarno of Indonesia was the chief guest. Not coincidentally, on the 75th anniversary of our Republic this year, it is again an Indonesian President, Prabawo Subianto, who is the chief guest.