Who was the Chief Guest at India's Republic Day Parade celebration in the year…

The Chief Guest at India's Republic Day Parade, held every year on 26 January, is a foreign head of state or head of government formally invited by the Government of India through the Ministry of External Affairs. The choice highlights the diplomatic relationship India wants to emphasise that year, and the invited dignitary is the principal guest at the ceremony on Rajpath (now Kartavya Path) along with other official engagements during the visit.

For the Republic Day held on 26 January 2014, the Government of India invited Shinzo Abe, the then Prime Minister of Japan, as the Chief Guest. This visit is documented in an official Press Information Bureau release and corroborated by the Japanese Prime Minister's Office (Kantei) record of the visit, making Abe the first sitting Japanese Prime Minister to be India's Republic Day Chief Guest.

Comparing adjacent years confirms this identification:

• 2013: King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck of Bhutan was the Chief Guest.

• 2014: Shinzo Abe, Prime Minister of Japan, was the Chief Guest.

• 2015: Barack Obama, President of the United States, was the Chief Guest.

None of the other offered names fits the 2014 date:

• David Cameron, the UK Prime Minister at the time, did not attend as the 2014 Republic Day Chief Guest.

• Sheikh Hasina, Prime Minister of Bangladesh, was not India's Republic Day Chief Guest in 2014.

• Aung San Suu Kyi, then a member of Myanmar's Parliament, was not the 2014 Republic Day Chief Guest; she became Myanmar's State Counsellor only in 2016.