13 interesting facts about the parade of 26th January:
1. As we all know that every year, the organisation of the parade on 26th January is done on Rajpath situated in New Delhi, but do you know that Rajpath was not the organizing centre for the parade from AD 1950 to 1954? During these years, the 26th January parade was held at Irwin Stadium (now National Stadium), Kingsway, Red Fort, and Ramleela Maidan respectively.
Rajpath became the permanent venue for the parade of 26th January since AD 1955. Rajpath was known by the name ‘Kingsway’ at that time.
2. Every year, the Prime Minister/ President/ or the ruler of any nation is invited as a guest for the 26th January parade. The first parade held on 26th January 1950, President of Indonesia Dr. Sukarno was invited as a guest. However, in 1955 when the first parade was held at Rajpath, The Governor-Generall of Pakistan Malik Ghulam Mohammad was invited.
Brazil's President Jair Messias Bolsonaro will be the Chief Guest on 71st Republic Day of India 2020.
3.The parade event on 26th January begins with the arrival of the President. First of all, the cavalier bodyguards of the President salute the National Flag, and during this time, the National Anthem is played and 21 Guns Salute is also given. But do you know that firing is not done with 21 canons? Instead, 7- cannons of the Indian army, which are known as “25- Ponders” are used for the firing in 3 rounds.
The interesting fact is that the time of gun salute firing matches with the time at which the National Anthem is played. First firing occurs at the start of the National Anthem and the last firing occurs right after 52 seconds. These cannons were made in 1941 and are involved in all the formal programmes of the army.
