Indonesia to be in lead of India's 76th Republic Day parade with first-ever marching contingent and band: MEA

New Delhi [India], January 25 (ANI): A marching contingent and band from Indonesia will lead the parade for the first time, the MEA stated, highlighting it as a key feature of India's upcoming 76th Republic Day.
Speaking at a special briefing on the state visit of Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto, Secretary (East) of the Ministry of External Affairs, Jaideep Mazumdar, also underlined Indonesia's role as a crucial partner in India's Act East Policy and Indo-Pacific vision, calling the visit both "timely" and "important," with extensive discussions covering a wide range of issues.
During the event, Mazumdar said, "Tomorrow, the President (of Indonesia) will witness the Republic Day parade as a chief guest. One remarkable feature of this Republic Day parade is that a marching contingent and a band from Indonesia will be at the lead of our parade. This is not only the first time that we are having a contingent from Indonesia marching on Republic Day, but for Indonesia, it is the first time ever that a military band and a military contingent have participated in a parade abroad, anywhere."
"This is of also particular importance because the President is also a soldier by profession, and he himself has taken great interest in the rehearsals of the the army contingent in Jakarta before they came and he is therefore extremely happy that this honour has been given to Indonesian Army. Indonesia as I have said is our comprehensive strategic partner and a very important pillar of our Act East policy and our vision for the Indo-Pacific and the visit is a very timely one, a very important one, and very substantive discussions were held in a wide range of areas that I have mentioned, and it will, we believe, certainly chart the way forward in bilateral relations for the next few years," he added.
At the invitation of PM Modi, Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto is on a state visit to India. He is also the Chief Guest for India's 76th Republic Day celebrations. This is Prabowo's first visit to India since assuming office in October 2024.
Mazumdar noted that Indonesian President is accompanied by a high-powered delegation of six cabinet ministers, senior officials and a very large business delegation. He talked about previous interactions between PM Modi and Indonesian President.
MEA Secretary said, "The President (President of Indonesia, Prabowo Subianto) is accompanied by a high-powered delegation of six cabinet ministers, senior officials and a very large business delegation. This is the President's maiden state visit to India and he has visited India before as the Defence Minister in 2020. He met our Prime Minister in Brazil on the margins of the G20 in November this year and they have also of course spoken on the phone on a couple of occasions."
"The president had congratulated Prime Minister Modi on his election victory. The president himself was elected in October, took office in October, and so we are very fortunate that very early on in his tenure he is visiting India. In fact, the Prime Minister also remarked that it is a very good sign. At the start of the Prime Minister's 3rd tenure and at the beginning of the president's tenure, we are having this visit, so it will give them both the chance to have an extended period through which to work on the relationship," he added.
Earlier in the day, Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a meeting with Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto at Hyderabad House in Delhi on Saturday. The two leaders reaffirmed their commitment to strengthening the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership with a focus on sectors like defence, security, maritime domain, economic ties, and people-to-people connections.
In a post shared on X, Randhir Jaiswal stated, "India-Indonesia | Together for our vision of the Indo Pacific. PM @narendramodi and President @prabowo of Indonesia held wide-ranging talks at Hyderabad House today. Both leaders reaffirmed their commitment to strengthening the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership with focus in the areas of defence & security, maritime domain, economic & people-to-people ties. They also exchanged views on regional and global issues of mutual interest."
Following his meeting with PM Modi, President Subianto underscored the historic ties and strategic partnership between Indonesia and India. He said that it is "great honour" for him to be chief guest at India's Republic Day parade.
In his press statement alongside PM Modi, Prabowo stated, "The Embassy of the Republic of Indonesia is on land donated by the Indian government before we were recognised by many other countries in the world. We will prioritise this relationship in the interest of long-term strategic partnership which we have agreed upon. We feel very honoured that I will be the Chief Guest tomorrow at the Republic Day parade and because the first Chief Guest in India's first Republic Day parade was President Sukarno, so this is a great honour for me."
Prabowo Subianto arrived in the national capital on Friday night on his first state visit to India. He was received by the Minister of State for External Affairs, Pabitra Margherita at the airport in New Delhi. (ANI)