School Band

In 1951, the NCC band of Santpuriya Balika Vidyapeeth, Santpur, performed for the first time at the Republic Day Parade in Delhi. Over the years, the band built a glorious legacy. However, in 2012, sixty-two years later, it was excluded from the parade with the reasoning that it belonged to a private school.

This decision did not sit well with the 51 cadets of the band, who saw it as not just an injustice but also a grave wrongdoing. They decided to undertake a non-violent protest, planning to march their band from Santpur to Delhi to overturn the government’s unfair decision.

As they set out for Delhi, the 51 cadets garnered widespread public support and media attention. The involvement of their school’s alumni, guides, students, and rural women transformed this march into a campaign for women empowerment.

Facing numerous challenges and hardships, the band covered a distance of 140 km within seven days. They had planned to block a highway 50 km further, but it was unnecessary, as their objective was achieved. On the eighth day, the Prime Minister visited their camp, acknowledging the band’s representation of India’s progressing women and condemning the idea of excluding them from the Republic Day Parade as unacceptable.

The Prime Minister revealed that some officials, influenced by an education mafia, had conspired to exclude the band. Those officials were suspended, and justice was served.

During the 62nd Republic Day celebrations, the school band performed on Rajpath, receiving significant media coverage. The live telecast inspired girls and women across urban and rural areas, empowering them with a sense of their potential and strength, instilling confidence that they could achieve whatever they aspired to do.