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Since 2021, the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA) has been entrusted with conceptualising and executing the Ministry of Culture’s Republic Day tableau.
As the Centre prepares to give this year’s Republic Day celebrations a Vande Mataram theme, the Union Ministry of Culture will showcase a tableau titled ‘150 Years of Vande Mataram’ at next week’s Republic Day Parade, highlighting the national song as a living expression of India’s civilisational memory, collective consciousness, and cultural continuity.
Vivek Agarwal, Secretary, Ministry of Culture, said India’s Republic Day tableaux are far more than ceremonial displays; they function as moving archives of the nation’s civilisational memory. Year after year, they translate ideas, values, and historical experience into a shared visual language.
Composed in 1875 by Bankimchandra Chattopadhyay, the song envisioned the nation as Mother — sujalam, suphalam — abundant in nature, nurture, and inner strength. The Ministry’s tableau for 2026 will give this long and layered journey a powerful visual form, officials said.
The moving tractor will carry the original manuscript of Vande Mataram, followed by folk artists drawn from the four directions of India, embodying the country’s cultural plurality. At the centre of the tableau, a member of the present generation, represented by Gen-Z, will stand and render Vande Mataram inspired by the historic rendition of Vishnupant Pagnis.
Since 2021, the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA) has been entrusted with conceptualising and executing the Ministry of Culture’s Republic Day tableau.
Sachchidanand Joshi, Member Secretary, IGNCA, said the tableau goes beyond representing a single ministry or department, and instead reflects the collective emotions, history, and national consciousness of the country. He noted that the theme will present the historical and cultural journey of the national song through artistic expression.
While most ministries and states highlight specific achievements or programmes, the Union Ministry of Culture adopts a distinctive approach by integrating multiple cultural dimensions, an approach reflected in its themes over the years, culminating in ‘150 Years of Vande Mataram’ as the theme for 2026.
Divya A reports on travel, tourism, culture and social issues - not necessarily in that order - for The Indian Express. She's been a journalist for over a decade now, working with Khaleej Times and The Times of India, before settling down at Express. Besides writing/ editing news reports, she indulges her pen to write short stories. As Sanskriti Prabha Dutt Fellow for Excellence in Journalism, she is researching on the lives of the children of sex workers in India. ... Read More
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