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‘Buggy’, revived last year, brings President Murmu, Indonesian counterpart for Republic Day Parade at Kartavya Path
The buggy was discontinued following the October 1984 assassination of then-PM Indira Gandhi by her bodyguards.
President Droupadi Murmu and her Indonesian counterpart Prabowo Subianto, the Republic Day chief guest, were brought to the Kartavya Path in Delhi, for the traditional Republic Day parade, in the traditional horse-drawn ‘buggy’ on Sunday.
The buggy, discontinued in 1984, made its return last year. It transported President Murmu and her French counterpart Emmanuel Macron, the chief guest last year, to the Kartavya Path.
The tradition
The gold-plated, horse-drawn buggy is a black carriage with the national emblem (four lions) embossed on it in gold.
Drawn by a mixed breed of Indian and Austrian horses, the carriage also features gold-plated rims.
The buggy carrying the President, who is India's head of state, along with the chief guest, is escorted by the ‘Rashtrapati Ke Angrakshak’ or the President's bodyguards, the senior-most regiment of the Indian Army.
Why was the buggy discontinued?
Giani Zail Singh used the presidential buggy in 1984. In October that year, then-prime minister Indira Gandhi was assassinated by her bodyguards.
This led to the tradition being discontinued due to security reasons. The Presidents then began arriving in limousines, until the buggy was brought back nearly 40 years later, in January 2024.
In 2014, then President Pranab Mukherjee used the buggy, but for the Beating Retreat ceremony, which is held on January 29, and concludes the Republic Day festivities.
Pranab Mukherjee's successor Ram Nath Kovind inspected the Guard of Honour from the presidential carriage after taking oath in 2017.
Republic Day
On January 26, the nation commemorates the coming into effect of the Constitution on this date in 1950, which made India a democratic republic, nearly three years after independence from British rule, on August 15, 1947.
The Constitution, drafted by the Constituent Assembly, was adopted on November 26, 1949. The January date was chosen to commemorate the declaration of ‘Purna Swaraj’ (complete independence) by the Indian National Congress on January 26, 1930.
On the other hand, November 26 is observed as Constitution Day.
