Governor Mangubhai Patel attended the "Beating the Retreat" ceremony in the capital on Sunday. The ceremony was organised at Moti Lal Nehru Stadium, Bhopal.

On this occasion, bands of 150 police and army personnel presented a march past creating waves of patriotism, stirring tunes of patriotic songs and marching in sync with the beat. The tuneful melodies of the amalgamation of Western and Indian music enthralled the audience.

At the culmination of the "Beating the Retreat" ceremony, the entire stadium was drenched in rainbow lights. Meanwhile, multicoloured fireworks scattered pleasant colours from the ground to the sky.

Beating the Retreat programme began with paying respect to Governor Shri Mangubhai Patel. Brass Band, Mass Band, Pipe Band and Army Band of Madhya Pradesh Police gave a captivating group presentation. A mesmerizing march past amidst the performances enthralled everyone. Patriotic, Indian Classical Music, Bharatiya Raga and Western classical music were brought out in the band concert by the Police Brass Band.

In this sequence, melodious musical renditions of songs from Hindi films were given. After this, band-wise group presentations were given by all the bands while marching past.

A musical presentation was made by the Police Brass Band under the leadership of Inspector Sunil Katare. Army Pipe Band of Mahar Regiment Sagar presented an impressive march past. In the end, the band jointly marched past to the tune of "Saare Jahan Se Achcha".

It is known that the organisation of the "Beating the Retreat" is a long ancient tradition of paramilitary forces. When the troops returned to their camps after the war, there was a programme of entertainment with bands playing to reduce the tension of the war. With this programme, the Republic Day programmes formally end in India. Madhya Pradesh is the only state in the country to organise “Beating the Retreat”, where every year on January 29, a programme is organised by the police in the capital Bhopal.

Senior administrative and police officers including Chief Secretary Iqbal Singh Bains, Additional Chief Secretary Home Rajesh Rajoura, Director General of Police Sudhir Saxena were present in the "Beating the Retreat" ceremony.