Kolkata, Dec 29 (IANS): The Central government has rejected the proposed tableau from the state government for the Republic Day Parade on January 26 next year at New Delhi.

The theme of the tableau proposed by the West Bengal government this time was “Kanyashree Prakalpa” project, a financial assistance scheme to discourage girls from being school dropouts while encouraging them to go for higher studies, a pet project of the Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.

The ruling party leaders feel that the proposed tableau has been rejected deliberately by the Union government to ensure that the success stories of this “unique girl-child development project” by the state government do not get wider publicity.

“Had this tableau not been rejected, the scientific approach of the West Bengal government under the dynamic leadership of the Chief Minister in women-development would have come in the limelight and in that process the failures of the Union government in the same field would have surfaced. It is unfortunate that the “Kanyashree Prakalpa”, which had received international accolades including that from the UN, had not been acknowledged by the Union government,” said the State Women & Child Development and Social Welfare Minister Sashi Panja.

As per Trinamool Congress leaders, giving permission to the project would have meant an indirect acknowledgement that the Union government project of “Beti Bachao Beti Padhao” project was actually inspired by the West Bengal government’s “Kanyashree Prakalpa” project.

The sources said that this is not the first time that the proposed tableau from West Bengal for the Republic Day parade has been rejected.

Earlier, there had been instances of rejections of proposed tableaus from the West Bengal government in 2020 and 2022 as well.