Constitution Day is not a holiday but Promise Day

Prime Minister Narendra Modi started giving emphasis on the values and ethos of Samvidhan and since 2015, we have been celebrating Constitution Day (Samvidhan Divas) on 26 November to celebrate the adoption of the Constitution of India by the Constituent Assembly.

- Dr Nandini Basistha

It is actually a tribute to the framers of the document, especially the Chairman of the Drafting Committee, Dr B. R. Ambedkar.

Drafting this constitution was not so easy as there were multiple types of states and people and problems in India to consider. Even after India gained independence on 15 August 1947, India was under British Parliament with 'Dominion' status and there were princely states and French and Portuguese colonies in the Indian subcontinent. India was divided and discriminated, according to gender, race, region, religion, caste and class.

So laying principles of justice, liberty, equality and fraternity and making India a 'Socialist Republic' was not as easy during the times of the Cold War. But kudos to the 389 (reduced to 299 after the partition of India) members of the Constituent Assembly who framed the world's lengthiest written constitution, which grounded democratic ethos so deep that India became an iconic example of Democratic Republic while our neighbours and others are facing military coup and civil wars.