“We are on the threshold of a new era. This resolution is a message defining our intentions as to what we propose to do. This is a contract with the millions of Indians in particular and the people of the world in general. This is in the nature of an oath that we mean to keep…”
“The Resolution that I am placing before you define our aims, describes an outline of the plan and points the way which we are going to tread. It has been drafted after mature deliberation and efforts have been made to avoid controversy. A great country is sure to have a lot of controversial issues; but we have tried to avoid controversy as much as possible.”
“This resolution steers between two extremes (of saying too much and too little) and lays down only certain fundamentals which I believe no group, no party and hardly any individual in India can dispute…”
“We are all in our respective spheres party men belonging to this group or that and presumably we shall continue to act in our respective parties.”
“Nevertheless, times come when we have to rise above party and think of the nation, think sometimes of even the world at large of which our nation is a great part”, Honourable Prime Minister Jawahar Lal Nehru exclaimed while proposing the Objectives resolution before the Constituent Assembly.
And hence after rigorous drafting of the world’s longest Constitution for continuous three years by the 299- member Constituent Assembly, India’s supreme rule book got commenced on 26 January 1950.
The story has it how Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru of the pre-independence Indian National Congress (INC), unfurled the Tricolor on the banks of the river Ravi in Lahore on January 26, 1930 post the passing of a historic resolution of “Purna Swaraj” or complete self-rule at the Lahore session in December 1929.
So, it is to note that although 26 November is known as “Constitution Day” as the Constitution got adopted on this day in 1949, no other day could serve the best in order to celebrate and enforce Indian Constitution than the 26th of Jan.
India celebrated its 73rd Republic Day today
While India was mainly governed based on a common law system and the British government designed ‘Government of India Act 1935’, the Indian Constitution came nothing less than a revelation for the Indian citizens to abide from.
Those splendid parades in the view of Rashtrapati Bhawan, showcasing different cultures on the tableaus of respective states, the mechanistic yet uniform movements by various contingents that almost all of us would want to complement, can take any breath away with awe.
Truly, every Indian holds its culture deep in his/ her heart. One can never feel more elated as one wakes up with goosebumps because of the heart-wrenching and bittersweet patriotic songs: Oh, we have a favorite list!
The air that remains laden with the stories of past sacrifices, the heroic tales, the losses this nation has endured, the mistakes it made and what not.
However, this day shall remind us how to move forward too.
For we are products of a beautiful nation, whose laws are harsh yet simple, rigid yet flexible, punitive yet compassionate.
If we can rejoice at the day with pride, once can attempt to abide by the ideals those drive this nation: kindness, unity, compassion and all those big words which may constantly begin to lose their meaning.
This country has composed a set of fundamental duties yet they are not legally bound but it has dared to preserve its set of fundamental rights as untampered. Though voluntarily, but we can begin to contribute to this nation, as much as we can.
Be it through fostering Science and innovation, or embracing its cultural richness or protecting its natural treasures like forestland, maybe spread brotherhood in between each other despite the thick lines of religion, caste, region etc.
This country has blessed us with safety when it had none, food when it imported the worst of grains, kept our pockets floating when it was about to lent its own future amidst the 1991 economic crisis.
What we can do least is preserve the best of it, the things we have been endowed with. We may want it to become the best nation, cross all the boundaries to be a place of our dreams yet we need to understand: India exists, with its citizenry.
If its own population needs help, we can just be assuaged with providing them basic food, shelter, education, health infrastructure that they aim for. Our methods of growth shall be inclusive of all else we will continue to yield less on meaningful statistics.
APJ Abdul Kalam quoted it well enough: “In a democracy, the well-being, individuality and happiness of every citizen is important for the overall prosperity, peace and happiness of the nation.”
For every responsible citizen can add to the strength of a Nation.