NewDelhi: The Republic Day celebrations of India, which is having Indonesia President Prabowo Subianto as the chief guest, are believed to be one of the important gestures of diplomacy between the two countries. In a remarkable event, President Subianto has postponed his planned visit to Pakistan and will not attend the Republic Day parade in India but will go to Malaysia.
The choice has come in the wake of bilateral talks between New Delhi and Jakarta taking place, which addressed Raja’s frets over the trip. An insider’s revelation has it that New Delhi was not comfortable with the travel route of Subianto, who directly wanted to travel to Pakistan after the Republic Day event.
The invitation to come to India is made for the third time, which is a clear indication of the solid, growing strategic partnership between these two Asian countries. The first Indonesian president to attend India’s Republic Day was in 1950, when President Sukarno was the chief guest.
The change in Subianto’s schedule is a sign of India’s efforts to realise its policy of ‘dehyphenation’ with Pakistan. The idea is to dissociate India’s bilateral ties from those with its neighbor. This issue became somewhat more significant in the light of a similar instance in 2018, when then-Indonesian President Joko Widodo had come to Pakistan right after attending India’s Republic Day functions; that got the diplomatic circles raising their eyebrows.
India, which is a predominantly secular nation and has a lot of interactions with the world, has always hosted global figures during its Republic Day celebrations. In the past few years, we have seen distinct figures attending the event, including French President Emmanuel Macron in 2024 and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi in 2023.
The practice of inviting international dignitaries to the Republic Day parade was interrupted for a brief period in 2021 and 2022 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, returning to normal with the expected presence of President Subianto, which will also show evidence of India’s commitment to the global community.
As the 76th Republic Day celebrations get underway, the focus will naturally be on the robust relationship featuring two of the most populous and democratic countries in Asia, India and Indonesia.