ASEAN leaders as chief guests, 100-foot wide stage for R-Day parade

January 26, 2018 07:58

As India celebrates its 69th Republic Day today, for the first time, 10 leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations or ASEAN will be the chief guests at the ceremonial parade, held at Rajpath, in the heart of national capital Delhi.

To accommodate the 10 heads of state, the stage that will be enclosed by bullet-proof glass will be 100 feet wide, three times bigger than what it was last year. There's unprecedented security in Delhi; mobile hit teams, anti-aircraft guns and sharpshooters have been deployed to keep a watch on the eight-km-long parade route from Rajpath to Red Fort.

The parade will be presided over by President Ram Nath Kovind. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his ministers, top leaders from political parties and senior officials will attend the event.

The foreign guests would go to Rashtrapati Bhavan first from where the cars carrying the heads of state and their spouses will start rolling down the Raisina Hill at 9.35 am. As per the protocol worked out, the first to arrive will be the prime minister of Brunei and the last to reach will be the Thai king.

One of the main spectacles of the parade will be the breathtaking stunts on motorcycles performed by 'Seema Bhawani' - a group of 113 women from the Border Security Force or BSF. The group would be a first all-women contingent from any force to perform biking stunts at the parade.

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