India, Jan. 25 -- When 75 years ago this day, India became a Republic, our first Prime Minister (PM) Jawaharlal Nehru invited Indonesia's first President Sukarno to come as an honoured guest. Just one year into his office, Sukarno was the only head of State from another country to have been so invited. A great painting of the swearing-in of India's first President, Rajendra Prasad, with Sukarno seated beside Nehru, hangs in the corridors of Rashtrapati Bhavan. It is most apposite that on the 75th anniversary of the Republic of India, Indonesia's President Prabowo Subianto, again just one year into his office, and the eighth in that line, should be the chief guest at the festivities.

Sukarno came expecting to see and did, indeed, see in t...