New Delhi, Jan 27 (IANS): Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Science & Technology Dr Jitendra Singh hosted a lunch for the Jammu & Kashmir Tableau team members who had performed at the Republic Day celebrations on Rajpath in the national capital and interacted with them about their experiences.

The team of artists, along with choreographers and musicians, have also been given an appointment to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday.

Interacting with the tableau team here, he said that under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, a conscious effort has been made to provide equitable development and equitable attention to every region of Jammu and Kashmir in the last nearly eight years,. This has given confidence and self-esteem to every section of society and every region.

Complimenting the members of the team on their performance, Singh said he would like the people back home to understand the amount of effort, hard work and focused preparation for several months, which had been put in for this performance. He appreciated the perseverance and difficult competitive trial through which the team members had gone for getting their tableau included in the Republic Day programme at the national level.

The Minister said that very few people are aware that the entry of any State or UT Tableau in a Republic Day programme at the national level has to go through different stages of competition and trial, and many States and UTs get excluded in the process and lose the opportunity to be included in the Republic Day programme.

The team expressed happiness at the support and encouragement offered by Singh and also the hospitality extended by him. They said this was the first-of-its-kind experience they had gone through and they were absolutely excited about it.