Row after Centre rejects West Bengal govt's tableau proposal for Republic Day parade: What do rules say?

Centre's rejection of West Bengal's tableau proposal has triggered a row with the state's ruling TMC alleging that the decision is the result of the party's protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act.

A committee set up to examine tableau proposals from states for the Republic Day parade has rejected the West Bengal government's entry, the Defence Ministry said on Wednesday. 

Reacting to the decision, the Trinamool Congress (TMC) said that the BJP has insulted the people of West Bengal for protesting against the amended Citizenship Act. 

“Just because West Bengal has been opposing anti-people policies of the BJP government, a step-motherly treatment is being meted out to the state. As we have opposed anti-people laws like CAA, the Centre has rejected our tableau proposal," 
West Bengal Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Tapas Roy was quoted as saying by PTI.

Roy said this is not the first time that West Bengal’s tableau proposal has been rejected and blamed the BJP. 

The West Bengal BJP rejected the allegation of bias and said the tableau was rejected as the state government didn’t properly follow the rules and procedure in submitting the proposal.

“The state government has not followed the rules. Other states have followed them, so their tableau proposals were accepted. The TMC should stop doing politics on each and every issue,” state BJP president Dilip Ghosh said.

The Ministry had received 32 tableau proposals from states and union territories out of which 22 have been accepted. 

It also received 24 proposals from central ministries and departments out of which six have been short-listed for this Republic Day parade.

"Out of these, 22 proposals, comprising 16 states/UTs and 6 ministries/departments, have finally been short-listed for participation in the Republic Day Parade 2020 after a series of five meetings," a statement by the ministry said.

It said the West Bengal government's proposal was rejected after an Expert Committee examined it in two rounds of meeting.

"The tableau proposal of the West Bengal government was not taken forward for further consideration by the Expert Committee after deliberations in the second meeting," the statement said. 

"It is pertinent to mention here that the tableau of the Government of West Bengal was short-listed for participation in the Republic Day Parade 2019 as an outcome of the same process," it added. 

Why West Bengal proposal was rejected?

Government sources said the proposal was rejected as the state did follow the criteria of a unique theme. 

The state had given three proposals on tableaux for January 26 parade - 1. Kanyashree, 2. Save Green, stay clean, 3. 'Jol dhoro Jol bhoro'. 

According to rules, uniqueness of the theme is the foremost criteria and proposal for 'Kanyashree' was rejected in 2015 on the ground that the central government has similar project naming 'Beti Bachao Beti Padhao'.

The 'Save Green, Stay Clean' proposal was also not deemed unique by experts because the central government has 'National Clean Air Programme.' 

The 'Jol Dhoro Jol Bhoro' proposal was rejected because Centre already has a similar programme named 'Atal Jol Yojana', Zee News reported.