Republic Day 2024 update: French President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday will visit the Amber Fort, Jantar Mantar and Hawa Mahal before attending the Republic Day 2024 parade on January 26. The French President will land in Jaipur on January 25 and will begin his packed day from Amber Fort. He will be walking up to the Fort where there is a cultural event planned for President Macron.
Following this, Macron will also meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi at Jantar Mantar, which is a World Heritage site. Modi and Macron will then take part in a joint roadshow from Jantar Mantar to Sanganeri Gate with a stopover at Hawa Mahal.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will also host a private dinner for Macron at the Rambagh Palace. While there is no structured dialogue planned between the two sides or a joint press interaction, there will be a joint statement that would be issued at the end of day one.
Prime Minister Modi will roll out the red carpet for him from Jaipur to New Delhi. On January 26, President Macron will witness the Republic Day parade at the Kartavya Path as the Chief Guest. A French Army contingent is also set to participate in the Republic Day parade.
After witnessing the pageantry at the R-Day parade, Macron will interact with the staff at the French embassy. Later, he will attend ‘At Home’ Reception hosted by the President of India Droupadi Murmu at the Rashtrapati Bhavan followed by an official banquet dinner.
Macron is the fifth French president to be the Chief Guest at India’s Republic Day after President François Hollande(2016), Nicolas Sarkozy (2008), Jacques Chirac (1998), Valery Giscard d’Estaing (1980) and Jacques Chirac as PM (1976).
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Narendra Modi, on the other hand, is the second Indian Prime Minister to be the Guest of Honour at France’s Bastille Day. PM Manmohan Singh was the Guest of Honour at Bastille Day parade in 2009. PM Modi attended the parade last year in July 2023.
Moreover, the two sides are likely to have major announcements in defence and strategic sectors. Previously, there were reports that US President Joe Biden could be the Chief Guest at India’s Republic Day parade. Biden, however, declined the invitation to be the chief guest at the Republic Day parade, according to US envoy to India Eric Garcetti.
“US President Biden has been invited for Republic Day by Prime Minister Modi during the bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the G20 summit. Although the PM did not mention the Quad,” said Ambassador Garcetti in December last year.
Commenting on Macron accepting India’s invitation at the last minute, former Indian envoy to France Mohan Kumar said: “It is an unconditional commitment to the strategic partnership that France has with India. It also is an indication of magnanimity on his (Macron) part because as you said he accepted it at short notice. It comes close on the heels of Prime Minister Modi’s visit to Paris on Bastille Day. There is only one way to look at it and that is that it is a demonstration of France’s unconditional commitment to the partnership with India.”
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