‘Buggy’, revived final yr, brings President Murmu, Indonesian counterpart for Republic Day Parade at Kartavya Path

The buggy, discontinued in 1984, made its return final yr. It transported President Murmu and her French counterpart Emmanuel Macron, the chief visitor final yr, to the Kartavya Path.

The custom

The gold-plated, horse-drawn buggy is a black carriage with the nationwide emblem (4 lions) embossed on it in gold.

Drawn by a combined breed of Indian and Austrian horses, the carriage additionally options gold-plated rims.

The buggy carrying the President, who’s India’s head of state, together with the chief visitor, is escorted by the ‘Rashtrapati Ke Angrakshak’ or the President’s bodyguards, the senior-most regiment of the Indian Military.

Why was the buggy discontinued?

Giani Zail Singh used the presidential buggy in 1984. In October that yr, then-prime minister Indira Gandhi was assassinated by her bodyguards.

This led to the custom being discontinued as a result of safety causes. The Presidents then started arriving in limousines, till the buggy was introduced again almost 40 years later, in January 2024.

In 2014, then President Pranab Mukherjee used the buggy, however 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 approaching into impact of the Structure on this date in 1950, which made India a democratic republic, almost three years after independence from British rule, on August 15, 1947.

The Structure, drafted by the Constituent Meeting, was adopted on November 26, 1949. The January date was chosen to commemorate the declaration of ‘Purna Swaraj’ (full independence) by the Indian Nationwide Congress on January 26, 1930.

Then again, November 26 is noticed as Structure Day.