72nd Constitution Day: President Kovind and PM Modi to Address the Gathering at the Parliament

Today as a part of the Constitution Day celebrations, President Ram Nath Kovind led the celebration and addressed the nation in a speech, with Preamble reading in the Central Hall of Parliament where Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed a distinguished gathering.

 Two separate programmes in the national capital – one at 11 am in the Central Hall of the Parliament and the other at 5:30 pm in the Vigyan Bhawan

According to Prime Minister’s office statement – “President Kovind will then release a digital version of the Constituent Assembly Debates at the Central Hall of the Parliament House. The document is an online version of a calligraphed copy of the Constitution as well as an updated version of the document laying down the framework of the fundamental political code of the country, which will include all amendments to date.”

Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed the event saying that – “several leaders of our country brainstormed to give us the Constitution of India. “Constitution Day is the day to salute this House, where many of India’s leaders brainstormed to give us the Constitution of India. We also pay tribute to Mahatma Gandhi and all those who fought during India’s independence struggle.”

“Dynastic parties are a matter of concern to people committed to the Constitution. Look at dynastic political parties from Kashmir to Kanyakumari, this is against the democratic spirit. If the party is run for generations by a family and the entire party system is with a family then that is the biggest problem for a healthy democracy,” he added.

President Ram Nath Kovind addressed the Constitution Day event in the Central Hall of Parliament Friday and said that – “the development journey of India has been progressing on the strength of our Constitution. 72 years ago, in this Central Hall, the framers of our Constitution had adopted this document for a bright future of independent India. I believe that the development journey of India has been progressing on the strength of our Constitution.”

Talking about women’s contribution to Indian Constitution, the President said – “In our country, not only women were given the right to vote from the beginning, but many women were members of the Constituent Assembly. They also made an unprecedented contribution in the making of the Constitution.”

Organized by the Supreme Court, two-day Constitution Day celebrations will be officially inaugurated by PM Modi at 5:30 pm in the plenary hall of Vigyan Bhawan. All judges of the Supreme Court, the Solicitor-General of India, Chief justices of all high courts and senior-most judges, and other members of the legal fraternity will also be present at the occasion.

According to an official release issued by the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs – “the programme organized in Parliament will also be addressed by the Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu and Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla.”

Signifying the passing of 75 years since the country gained independence from British colonial rule, the Central government is celebrating Constitution Day as a part of ‘Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav’.

In 2015, the observation of Constitution Day started in November, with an aim to give due recognition to the significance of this historic date and to promote the constitutional values amongst countrymen. Earlier it was known as the ‘National Law Day. This year, the day is being celebrated to commemorate the adoption of the Constitution of India by the Constituent Assembly in 1949.

The lengthiest constitution in the world, the Constitution of India is considered the supreme law of the nation and demarcates the structure, framework, powers, and duties of government institutions, and sets out fundamental rights, directive principles, and duties of citizens. It makes every citizen of India realize their duty to keep the sanctity of the preamble – Sovereign, Socialist, Secular, and the Democratic Republic – intact.

History

The first session of the Constituent Assembly, which was the body to draft the Constitution, was conducted on 9^th December 1946. It took almost three years for the assembly to draft the Constitution, and more than 114 days were spent finalizing the content of the draft alone. The then Prime Minister, Jawahar Lal Nehru moved the ‘Objectives Resolution’ on 13^th December 1946 which was adopted as the Preamble of the Constitution on 22^nd January 1947. Dr. B R Ambedkar was the Chairman of the Drafting Committee. There were over 17 committees of the Constituent Assembly and their task was to prepare a Draft Constitution of the country. Out of 7,600 amendments tabled, 2,400 amendments were discarded by the Committee.