Gautam Gambhir salutes Captain Tania Shergill, the lady adjutant of Republic Day Parade

As Delhi's Rajghat is gearing up for the Prime Minister, the President and Chief Guests to arrive for the 71st Republic Day celebrations, East Delhi MP Gautam Gambhir has wished the nation. Taking to Twitter on Sunday, he has said that as a father of two daughters he is proud to see Indian Army’s Captain Tanya Shergill, to lead the Parade. Shergill is the first woman officer as Parade Adjutant on Army Day parade this year.

His wishes comes hours before President Ram Nath Kovind and Prime Minister Narendra Modi's arrival at Rajpath to hoist the tricolour, along with chief guest, Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, and other dignitaries. Over ten thousand security personnel have been deployed to keep vigil over the Republic Day celebrations in the national capital on Sunday, said officials.

Republic Day: VP Venkaiah Naidu calls for fortification of India's 'unity & integrity'

Who is Tanya Shergill?

Among many firsts of this year's Republic Day, Captain Tanya Shergill will lead the Republic Day parade as the parade adjutant. A parade adjutant is responsible for directing and conducting the parade. She was also the first woman parade adjutant for the Army Day parade on January 15 when she led an all-male contingent in the parade at the Cariappa Parade Ground in Delhi Cantonment. 

Raj Thackeray wishes immortality upon India with stunning picture, on Republic Day 2020

“It was a feeling of great pride, a sense of accomplishment and worthiness, and pure blessing,” Shergill, told PTI after the function. The 26-year-old is the fourth generation of her family to serve in the Indian Army. Her great grandfather was part of the Sikh Regiment in World War I. Her paternal grandfather was also part of the same regiment and her maternal grandfather served in the 14th Armoured Regiment. Her father served in the artillery regiment. She is a graduate of the Officers Training Academy (OTA), Chennai and applied to the academy during her final year of engineering. After her training at OTA, she was commissioned in the Corps of Signal in 2017. 

Puri congratulates Adnan Sami on Padma Shri, hopes Shaheen Bagh protestors are listening

“When the selection was on for the Parade Adjutant, I knew that if I would get selected, I would be the first woman to do that job in the parade’s history,” she said. On asked to deliver a message to women who are chasing their dreams, Gill said, “When we don the uniform, we are just officers, gender is immaterial, all that matters is merit.” She added, “And girls and women chasing their dreams should just believe in themselves. It doesn’t matter if some people think they are any less than boys and men. I would tell them just focus on your goals and pursue the goals with passion."

BSF-BGB exchange sweets on the eve of India's Republic Day