The Op­po­si­tion says it is pleased that the Gov­ern­ment will host Re­pub­lic Day cel­e­bra­tions lat­er this month, adding that pub­lic pres­sure may have in­flu­enced the de­ci­sion fol­low­ing the can­cel­la­tion of the In­de­pen­dence Day pa­rade.

Speak­ing to re­porters at a press con­fer­ence fol­low­ing the Peo­ple’s Na­tion­al Move­ment’s Gen­er­al Coun­cil meet­ing in Pleas­antville, par­ty chair­man Mar­vin Gon­za­les said: “We look for­ward to the Re­pub­lic Day award, and if her Gov­ern­ment has de­cid­ed to cel­e­brate na­tion­al events, we tell the Prime Min­is­ter wel­come, and we hope she con­tin­ues to be pa­tri­ot­ic,” Gon­za­les said.

Deputy po­lit­i­cal leader San­jiv Bood­hu said, “We are pleased that the cir­cum­stances that ex­ist­ed to cause the In­de­pen­dence Day pa­rade not to hap­pen no longer ex­ist. We are very hap­py about that.”