As we celebrate the 75th Republic Day on January 26, let’s look back at Chief Guests gracing the R-Day Parade over the decades under various Prime Ministers and how these choices have shaped the country’s foreign policy
This year’s guest, Prabowo Subianto, will be the third Indonesian Head of State to come as Chief Guest after Joko Widodo in 2018, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono in 2011 and Sukarno in 1950
1955 marked a significant moment in diplomatic history as the Chief Guest was from Pakistan – Governor-General
Malik Ghulam Muhammad
France has been honoured on six occasions. Jacques Chirac was invited twice in 1976 and 1998, Valéry Giscard d’Estaing in 1980, Nicolas Sarkozy in 2008, Francois Hollande in 2016 and Emmanuel Macron in 2024
Bhutan was represented four times. Jigme Dorji Wangchuckwas the Chief Guest in 1954
In 2015, US President Barack Obama became the first sitting American President to attend R-Day celebrations
In 1959, Chinese Communist General Ye Jianying was the Chief Guest, who later became one of China’s top leaders
In 1965, Pakistan’s Food and Agriculture Minister Rana Abdul Hamid attended the parade
RA Butler, Chancellor of the Exchequer, was the first Chief Guest from the UK in 1956, along with Japan’s Chief Justice Kotaro Tanaka
Prince Philip attended in 1960, followed by Queen Elizabeth II in 1961 while Lord Mountbatten, the last British Viceroy of India, was invited in 1964