Jai Hind future warriors today we are going to discuss the reason behind celebrating Republic Day specifically on 26 January. For this, we have to go back in time to one of the most important sessions of Congress during our freedom movement.
44th Indian National Congress Session
Location: Lahore(Current Day Pakistan)
Date: April 16-18, 1929
President: Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru
- This session was held during the period where Pt Jawaharlal Nehru and Subhash Chandra Bose were working together to oppose those in the Congress Party who were satisfied with the ‘Dominion Status’. As per Dominion Status, we would be given some powers but the British monarch would continue to be the head of the government.
- On December 31, 1929, Nehru hoisted the tricolour on the banks of the Ravi river and demanded ‘Poorna Swaraj’ or complete self-rule and set the date for independence on January 26,1930.
- On January 26, 1930 Indian National Congress passed the Poorna Swaraj Resolution, also known as Declaration of Independence
- Below is attached the real Poorna Swaraj Resolution, the image is blurred but to read get the official text: Click Here
Return to 1947
- The British government set the date for independence to 15 August, to coincide with the second anniversary of surrender of Japanese Forces to allied forces. Thus the day was off course one of the biggest ones in the history of our nation but it was kind of forced upon us. As Ramachandra Guha wrote, “Freedom finally came on a day that resonated with imperial pride rather than nationalist sentiment”.
- So even though the Constituent Assembly passed and adopted the “Constitution of India” on 26 November 1949, the date it came to force was chosen to coincide with the day India had been celebrating Poorna Swaraj Day(Independence Day) since 1930 i.e 26 January. Thus Constitution of India came force on 26 January 1950 and we have been celebrating the Republic Day on 26 Jan since.
- The timeline of our constitution is attached below:
26 January 1950 marked the transition of India from an autonomous Commonwealth Realm with British Monarch as nominal head of the Indian dominion, to a fully Sovereign Republic in the Commonwealth of Nations with an elected President of India as the nominal head of the Indian Union. It also marked the formal replacement of Government of India Act, 1935, with the new Constitution formed by an elected Drafting Committee comprising of people from all sections, which took 2 years,11 months and 18 days to be completed and contained 395 articles in 22 parts and 8 schedules.
Conclusion
As we know main republic day parade is held in New Delhi, and this year it is promising to be a grand one as always, thus we will keep you posted on all the new weapons, armoury aircraft, and other defence tableaux.
Hope this post was informative for you. For more such posts related to defence exams and SSB interviews stay tuned.
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