The Congress on Wednesday distanced itself from party Lok Sabha MP Shashi Tharoor’s tweet that the government should cancel the Republic Day celebrations on January 26 in view of the pandemic.
On Tuesday, after British Prime Minister Boris Johnson had called up Prime Minister Narendra Modi to express his inability to come as the Chief Guest for the R-Day parade, Mr. Tharoor had called for cancellation of the festivities.
“Now that @BorisJohnson’s visit to India this month has been cancelled due to the #COVIDSecondWave, & we don’t have a Chief Guest on #RepublicDay, why not go one step farther & cancel the festivities altogether? Getting crowds to cheer the parade as usual would be irresponsible,” Mr. Tharoor tweeted.
Without directly commenting on the tweet, the Congress at its party’s official meeting said it fully backed the idea of celebrating the “democratic and constitutional festivals”.
“At a time when you are witnessing the Constitution and constitutional institutions being constantly attacked and weakened, the Congress feels that such festivities should be celebrated with enthusiasm,” spokesperson Alka Lamba said.
“We have to take an oath that we will not allow our Constitution and institutions to be weakened at all. And I think, we can strengthen our commitment, faith and belief through our democratic festivals,” she said.
