US President Barack Obama to be the chief guest at the Repulic Day on Jan 26,2015

 

Prime Minister Narendra Modi scored a diplomatic coup on Friday Nov 21,214 by inviting President Barack Obama to be the chief guest at the Republic Day parade in January 2015, the first time the signal honour has been accorded to a US head of state. 

In a tweet through his official handle announcing the invitation, Modi referred to Obama as a “friend”. He tweeted: “This Republic Day, we hope to have a friend over…invited President Obama to be the 1st US President to grace the occasion as Chief Guest.” 

 

Minutes later, Obama’s acceptance of the invitation was announced through the official Twitter handle of his National Security Council. 

“@ invite of @narendramodi President Obama will travel to #India in Jan 2015 to participate in Indian Republic Day celebration as Chief Guest,” said a tweet. The National Security Council further tweeted that Obama’s visit will mark the first time a US President “will have honour of attending Republic Day”. 

Except for Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who was the chief guest at 2014 Republic Day parade, other guests over the past five years have not been prominent faces on the world stage. Russian President Vladimir Putin was the chief guest in 2007 and he was followed by French President Nicolas Sarkozy in 2008