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Updated: Aug 16, 2020 01:58 IST

The Trinamool Congress (TMC) has said that by rejecting West Bengal’s tableau at this year’s Republic Day parade, the BJP has insulted the people of the state for protesting the amended Citizenship Act. The BJP, however, countered saying TMC should stop doing politics on every issue.

West Bengal Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Tapas Roy told news agency PTI, “Just because West Bengal has been opposing anti-people policies of the BJP government, a step-motherly treatment is being meted out to the state. As we have opposed anti-people laws like CAA, the Centre has rejected our tableau proposal.”

“This is not the first time that West Bengal’s tableau proposal has been rejected,” he said adding that the BJP would get a “befitting reply” for it in the near future.

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The West Bengal BJP, meanwhile, said the tableau was rejected as the state government didn’t properly follow the rules and procedure in submitting the proposal.

“The state government has not followed the rules. Other states have followed them, so their tableau proposals were accepted. The TMC should stop doing politics on each and every issue,” West Bengal BJP president Dilip Ghosh said.

The proposals of 16 states/Union Territories and six ministries/departments have been shortlisted for taking part in this year’s Republic Day parade, but the tableau pitch made by West Bengal did not make the cut.

The Bengal government’s proposal was rejected after an expert committee examined it in two rounds of meeting, a statement by the defence ministry said.

“It is pertinent to mention here that the tableau of the Government of West Bengal was short-listed for participation in the Republic Day Parade 2019 as an outcome of the same process,” it said.

A total of 56 tableaux proposals (from 32 from states/UTs and 24 from ministries/departments) were received for being considered for the 2020 parade. Of these, a total of 22 proposals have been shortlisted after five meetings.