What use, Republic Day parade?

Everybody loves a good Republic Day parade in New Delhi. Do we really think we can scare our neighbouring enemies with tacky tableaux of missiles and warships along with tanks and fighter aircrafts all conjoined with colourful arrays of horse-mounted troops? The tank, missiles and fighter aircrafts will turn out to be advertisements for the American and Russian military industrial complexes.

They may be equally interested to sell the same equipment to Indian enemies as well. Our country is surrounded by inimical powers such as Pakistan and China which are heavy security praetorian nations. In this scheme of things, having military components as part of the annual Republic Day parade is an essential device to keep its morale.

That argument does have some traction. Moreover, it may be a good idea to bring some variation in the Republic Day parade by doing such things as having a French marching contingent as was the case in three years back Republic day parade. These are signs of slow change.

But sooner or later we must face up to the fact that military march pasts are approaching their sell by date. Does a nation founded by Mahatma Gandhi need to parade its military might. After all many other nations also face credible military threats, yet keep their morale up without resorting to archaic military displays.

- K S Rao, Thane