In India, 26 January is celebrated as Republic Day. But, what is a Republic? And, what does it mean? What happened on 26 January 1950? These questions do not arise in our minds because we are conditioned to watch the pageantry on the Rajpath in Delhi, where the military might, industrial progress, advances in science and technology, success in agriculture and the richness of our cultural diversity are highlighted even while emphasising the spirit of unity. But is Republic Day all about the pageantry show on the Rajpath in Delhi? No, it is not. A country that has an elected head of state is known as a republic, for example, the USA. A country whose Head of the State comes by succession through heredity is known as a monarchy; for example, the UK. A country with the Head of another country as its Head of State is known as a dominion, for example, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, etc. They have accepted the British Monarch as their Head of State. The Monarch is represented by a Governor General, a ceremonial position in those countries. The Balfour Declaration of 1926 recognised the Dominions as ‘autonomous communities within the British Empire,’ and the 1931 Statute of Westminster confirmed their full legislative independence. India was also a dominion for a short period from 1947 to 1950 when we had C. Rajagopalachari as the Governor General of Independent India.
On 26 January 1950, the Constitution of India came into effect, and with it, all the institutions created by it followed suit. Article 52 of the Constitution of India says that there shall be a President of India. As a result, India had its first President, Dr Rajendra Prasad, elected to that office by the Constituent Assembly, and thus, the Republic of India was born. The Constituent Assembly acted as a provisional Parliament till a new Parliament was constituted following the first general elections conducted on the principle of adult universal franchise. Rajendra Prasad first took oath as the President on the morning of 26 January 1950 and then participated in the Republic Day Parade as the Head of State. The short-lived dominion status thus ended following the swearing-in of the President of India. With the Constitution taking effect on 26 January 1950, for the first time in the 5000-year-long history of India, we got a Head of State elected democratically by the people’s representatives as distinct from succession through heredity or palace intrigues that marked the succession process during the regimes of rajas and ranis for generations. The tradition of palace intrigues ended in 1950.
Thus, 26 January clearly signifies the majesty of the Constitution of India as the supreme law of the land. We celebrate 26 November as Constitution Day because the Constitution was enacted, adopted and given to us by the Constituent Assembly on 26 November 1949. But, in our obsession with pomp and pageantry associated with Republic Day, we seem to have forgotten the Constitution itself because no mention is made about the Constitution coming into force on 26 January either by the judiciary, the Executive, the media or the academia. The significance of the Constitution coming into force on 26 January should not be ignored at all. Unfortunately, that seems to be the trend, as we hardly find any mention of it in the euphoria of celebrating Republic Day.
What is the message we give to the future generations of the Republic? The Republic Day is a fitting occasion to reminisce about the misgivings expressed by the makers of the Constitution in the Constituent Assembly and to measure how far we have resolved those misgivings that were genuine at that time. On 25 November 1949, the penultimate day of the Constituent Assembly, Babasaheb Ambedkar cautioned: ‘On 26 January 1950, we are going to enter into a life of contradictions. In politics we will have equality and in social and economic life we will have inequality. In politics we will be recognising the principle of one man one vote and one vote one value. In our social and economic life, we shall, by reason of our social and economic structure, continue to deny the principle of one man one value. How long shall we continue to live this life of contradictions? How long shall we continue to deny equality in our social and economic life? If we continue to deny it for long, we will do so only by putting our political democracy in peril. We must remove this contradiction at the earliest possible moment…’ It is a warning as poignantly relevant today as it was on 25 November 1949, which was 75 years ago. What is our position today?
Nobody is raising these issues anymore. The address of the President to the nation on the eve of Republic Day or the speech of the Prime Minister from the ramparts of the Red Fort on Independence Day hardly admit the ever-growing distance we have to travel to realise the Constitution’s lofty goals. If the political leadership is afraid of admitting its failure, what are the other primary institutions of the polity, such as the media, academia, the judiciary, and civil society organisations, doing in this respect? Pretty little! Their silence is conspicuous about the growing tendency of undemocratic and unconstitutional methods of governance! Such tendencies should keep every conscientious individual awake from his midnight sleep. In our enthusiasm for celebration, we must not forget the fundamental problems afflicting our constitutional institutions, the naming of which is unnecessary because everyone knows them, and the rot has set in them. The lawlessness that marks our electoral processes, the pandemonium in Parliament, the immense caseload that is pending in our courts, the weakening of the civil services, and the steel frame of our bureaucracy are the issues that should dampen the celebratory spirit of the Republic Day Parade.
So, what must we do to set the situation right? First of all, we must realise that we should not be satisfied with symbolism but pay attention to the substantive issues confronting the nation. They say catch them young! We must incorporate the Constitution of India in the curriculum right from the high school stage onwards for every student, engineering and medicine included, in order to develop respect for the Constitution, imbibe the ideals enshrined in the Constitution such as secularism, socialism, federalism, and democracy and internalise the principal features of the Constitution such as the fundamental rights and the Directive Principles.
Younger generations must be made to understand that we have been given a set of justiceable rights for the first time in the history of India. In the monarchical tradition in which we lived long, the lawmaker, Executive and adjudicator were all rolled into one entity called the king or queen. The fate of the people depended on the benign nature of the ruler. No more and never again! Our Constitution has put an end to such arbitrariness in governance.
In the Republic of India, governance must be carried on in accordance with the Constitution and the laws made within the contours of the Constitution. That being so, is it not necessary for the younger generations to understand what the Constitution is all about? And, are we doing anything to inculcate an understanding of the Constitution in the young and impressionable minds?
The answer is sadly NO. At the very least, educated parents must keep a copy of the Constitution at home and encourage their children to read the provisions therein and familiarise themselves with what the Constitution seeks to achieve for India. But, unfortunately, we are only following the agitational methods of the freedom struggle, such as bandh, hartal, strikes, hunger strikes, etc., and deviating from the aspirations that fired the imagination of the freedom fighters.
Disturbance and destruction should not be viewed as the legacy of our freedom struggle because those methods were sometimes used against alien rule. Our freedom fighters visualised a vibrant, brave new nation that would achieve all-around progress, touching people’s lives for the better following independence. Are we anywhere closer to such a situation? Nothing is farther from the truth. We must not ignore this reality. If we do so, it would be at our own peril. The media, academia, civil society organisations, and informed sections of society must drive this truth home.
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