Drones dazzle at Beating Retreat, Nehru figures among freedom fighters

New Delhi, January 29

A novel drone show was one of the major attractions of this year’s Beating the Retreat ceremony. The other events were a ‘projection’ show on the walls of the North Block and South Block that listed out the fight for independence from 1857 to 1947.

The government listed the key freedom fighters and also mentioned Jawaharlal Nehru, besides Mahatma Gandhi, Subhas Chandra Bose, Sardar Patel, Bhagat Singh and several others. In the past, the Congress had accused the government of deliberately missing out on the role of Nehru.

One thousand drones, each with ability to emit lights of multiple colours, flew in patterns to form the shape of Mahatma Gandhi with his ‘lathi’, the National War Memorial and even Earth.

The drone show was made part of the ceremony to commemorate 75 years of Independence, being celebrated as ‘Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav’. The show lasted 10 minutes as music played in the background.

President Ram Nath Kovind was the chief guest at Vijay Chowk.

The show was conceptualised, designed, produced and choreographed under the ‘Make in India’ initiative.

The drone show was organised by a startup supported by IIT-Delhi and the Department of Science and Technology. Beating the Retreat is a centuries-old military tradition.