By IANS
New Delhi : India Saturday celebrated its 59th Republic Day with a grand parade here, with President Pratibha Patil becoming the first woman to take the salute at the event.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy was the guest of honour at the 105-minute event that showcased the country’s military might and rich cultural diversity.
Marching contingents, floats and folk dancers rolled down Rajpath, the two-mile magnificent boulevard that stretches from the British-built Rashtrapati Bhavan presidential palace to the Mughal Red Fort in the Old City.
Interspersed between the marching contingents was a dazzling array of military bands playing rousing music to add to the grandeur of the occasion.
A variety of new equipment like an indigenously developed Experimental Tank, the awesome T-90 Main Battle Tank (MBT) and a mobile launcher for the BrahMos supersonic cruise missile was on display for the first time at the parade.
A flypast featuring the frontline Sukhoi Su-30 combat jets, the Il-76 heavy lift transport and the Mi-26, the world’s largest helicopter, provided the grand finale.