Republic Day: AIR’s Tableau to Feature Mahatma Gandhi’s Maiden Broadcast

A file portrait of Mahatma Gandhi.

New Delhi: For the first time, All India Radio will showcase its tableau during the Republic Day parade, depicting a historic event when Mahatma Gandhi made his maiden and only broadcast through AIR in the wake of post Partition communal riots.

Addressing a press conference here, AIR Director General F Sheheryar said tableau will also showcase the diverse population of India and signify the public broadcaster’s “integrating role” in it.

“The front portion of the trailer showcases farmers listening to the radio while engrossed in an agricultural operation, (besides) soldiers listening to popular programmes of AIR like ‘Jaimala’ from advance locations in the frontier,” he said.

It will also showcase communities in rural areas listening to radio programmes, Sheheryar added.

The tableau will also have luminaries from the world of Indian music and a portion showcasing the AIR modernisation process with a young presenter in a modern setting.

An AIR release recently had stated that Prime Minister’s monthly radio programme ‘Mann Ki Baat’ will also feature in the tableau.

“Tableau displays community listening by rural listeners which can be any programme, including Mann Ki Baat. As in the limited space available on a tableau, all programmes cannot be showcased, so we haven’t labelled any specific programme on the tableau,” an official said.

The AIR also launched a song on the theme ‘Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat’, composed by renowned santoor player Pandit Bhajan Sopori.

Languages like Punjabi, Kashmiri, Gujarati, Bangla and Tamil feature in the song, whose title ‘Ek Bharat Shreshta Bharat’ has been voiced by PM Modi.

Prominent singers Shankar Mahadevan, Sonu Nigam and Ustad Raashid Khan among others have lent their voice to the song.