French President Emmanuel Macron to be Chief Guest at 75th Republic Day of India

Ties between France and India go deep and long and this is apparent from the number of times French statesmen have been invited to India in India’s Republic Day celebrations. 

This year, French President Emmanuel Macron will be Chief Guest at 75th Republic Day of India celebrations on January 26, 2024, making France the only country to be invited 6 times, highest for any nation.

The ideals of Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity in the preamble of India’s constitution have been inspired from the French Revolution, which is also the state motto of France.

In 1976, Prime Minister Jacques Chirac became the first French leader to be invited for India’s Republic Day. An admirer of India who had studied Sanskrit, he saw India as a major emerging power and pushed for boosting political and economic cooperation with France.

President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing saw great potential in Indo-French ties and was the first French President to visit India as Chief Guest on Republic Day in 1980. He underscored the major role India had to play in global affairs.

Jacques Chirac came back to India as Republic Day Chief Guest in 1998, this time as President. In a historic speech, he proposed to raise bilateral ties to the level of a strategic partnership, the first ever for France outside the EU.

President Nicolas Sarkozy’s 2008 visit marked 10 years of the 🇫🇷🇮🇳 strategic partnership and provided fresh impetus to deepen it and expand to new areas such as fighting climate change.

In 2016, President François Hollande's visit for Republic Day focused on initiatives to strengthen defence, business and people-to-people ties. A French also contingent marched down Kartavya Path, a first for any foreign nation.

France has also played a role in fostering democracy and idea of self-governance in other nations. Between 1778 and 1782 the French provided supplies, arms and ammunition, uniforms, and, most importantly, troops and naval support to the beleaguered Continental Army in the American Revolutionary war and later gifted the Statue of Liberty to America in 1886 as a “universal symbol of freedom and democracy”.

Source: French Embassy in India