India will not have foreign head of state as Chief Guest for Republic Day 2021: MEA

The Ministry of External Affairs announced on January 14, 2021, that there will be no foreign leader as a chief guest for the celebrations of Republic Day this year because of the global situation arising out of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Ministry added that this will be for the first time in over five decades that the country will not have a Chief Guest at the Republic Day parade.

The Spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs, Anurag Srivastava during a press briefing mentioned that because of the COVID-19, the government has decided that this year there will be no foreign head of government for the Republic Day event.

Due to global COVID-19 situation, it was decided not to have a foreign head of state or head of government as R-Day chief guest: MEA

— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) January 14, 2021

Invitation to UK PM for Republic Day 2021:

India had in 2020 invited the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Boris Johnson to be the Chief Guest for the Republic Day parade on January 26, 2021.

Dominic Raab, Foreign Secretary of UK, who had visited India in December 2020, had also announced that Boris Johnson has humbly accepted the invitation.

However, on January 5, 2021, UK PM canceled his plan of visiting India and informed that it was essential for him to remain in the country in order to focus on the domestic response to the COVID-19 pandemic, as a more contagious variant of the virus was found.

The cancellation of Johnson’s visit was announced a day after the imposition of the third lockdown in the UK amid the rising cases.

The spokesperson also informed that the Prime Minister of the UK spoke to PM Modi and expressed his regret of not being able to visit India later in January as planned.

Tri-service contingent from Bangladesh to visit India:

As India and Bangladesh will celebrate 50 years of diplomatic ties in 2021, at the invitation of the government, a tri-service contingent from Bangladesh will be visiting India in order to participate in the Republic Day parade.

During the virtual summit of Prime Ministers of India and Bangladesh in December 2020, the neighbouring countries had agreed to jointly organize several activities for commemorating the 50^th anniversary of diplomatic ties.