1950s
India’s first Republic Day guest was then Indonesian president Sukarno, a close ally of former prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru in the halcyon days of the non-aligned movement. They advocated the independence of Asian and African countries together.
The two countries have shared two millennia of close cultural and commercial ties – with the Hindu, Buddhist and Muslim faiths travelling to Indonesia from Indian shores. Even the folk art and theatre of Indonesia are based on stories from the Ramayana and Mahabharata.
The next two leaders to grace the Republic Day parade were the kings of Nepal and Bhutan respectively.
Chinese communist general Ye Jianying – the chief guest in 1959 – went on to become one of the top leaders of the country in the late 1970s, and its titular head of state from 1978 to 1983.
1960s
Jianying was followed by Kliment Yefremovich Voroshilov, a Soviet marshal, in 1960. The next chief guest was none other than Queen Elizabeth, followed by the Cambodian king. Soviet Union, Bulgaria and Yugoslavia were among the chosen countries in the 1960s. Pakistan was picked again, in 1965
1970s
The guest list in the 1970s depicted India’s diverse engagements. While the leaders of Yugoslavia and Poland were obvious choices, the others included Tanzanian president Julius Kambarage Nyerere, French prime minister Jacques René Chirac of France (who later became its president too), Australian prime minister Malcolm Fraser, and Sri Lanka’s first woman prime minister Sirimavo Bandaranaike.
1980s
France, Sri Lanka and Bhutan were picked again in the 1980s. While India increased the number of chief guests from Africa, three Latin American countries – Mexico, Argentina and Peru – also found representation at the Republic Day parade. Nguyễn Văn Linh, general secretary of the Vietnam Communist Party, was the chief guest in 1989
1990s
There was a more balanced distribution of chief guest invites in this decade. While South African president Nelson Mandela was the chief guest in 1995, leaders from places as spread apart as Latin America, Brazil, Spain, United Kingdom, Maldives, Mauritius and friendly neighbourhood Nepal were invited on other years. Basdeo Panday, the Indian-origin Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago, was the chief guest in 1997.
2000s
The guest list continued to show foreign policy priorities of the then government through this decade. As India had identified Iran as its key strategic partner in energy security as well as connectivity plans to central Asia, president Mohammed Khatami was chosen as the chief guest at the Republic Day function in 2003. King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz al-Saud, the ruler of Saudi Arabia, graced the event in 2006 – and two countries witnessed a considerable turnaround in bilateral ties after that. Russian President Vladmir Putin was the chief guest in 2007, followed by Kazakhstan president Nursultan Nazarbayev – the head of an important uranium supplier to India – in 2009.
2010-2017
With the exception of 2013, East Asian countries were the flavour of the season in the first four years as India tried to add more heft to its “look east policy” in the wake of an aggressive China. The leaders of South Korea, Indonesia and Thailand were the Republic Day chief guests in 2010, 2011 and 2012 respectively. The king of Bhutan was the chief guest in 2013, followed by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. On many counts, it’s with Japan that India has built its most durable relationship in modern times. Barack Obama turned out to be the chief guest in 2015 – becoming the first US president to do so. It was also the first Republic Day parade to be held after the Narendra Modi government came to power. Mohammed bin Zayed bin Sultan Al-Nahyan, the crown prince of Abu Dhabi (a Gulf country that the Modi government has invested heavily in), will be the chief guest in 2017
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