NEW DELHI: The Congress on Tuesday urged citizens to protect the ethos of the Constitution and said the struggle to defend India’s inherent philosophy must be reinvigorated and reignited in the 75th year of its adoption.
In a swipe at the BJP, the opposition party also asserted that a time when those out to destroy the Constitution are showing insincere commitment towards it, “our duty to protect it and fight for its true values becomes all the more relevant”.
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said the people of India should come together to protect each and every thought expressed in the Constitution.
‘The 75th year of the adoption of the Constitution has begun today. I extend my warmest wishes to all Indians on this historic occasion,’ the Congress president said in a post on X.
‘The Constitution of India, painstakingly and carefully drafted by our foremothers and forefathers is the lifeblood of our nation. It guarantees us social, economic and political rights. It constitutes India into a sovereign socialist democratic republic,’ he said.
Justice, liberty, equality and fraternity are not just ideals or ideas, they are the way of life for 140 crore Indians, Kharge asserted.
‘Today, we recall the tremendous contribution of the Constituent Assembly and its prolific members. We are forever indebted to their vision and wisdom,’ he said.
Kharge said Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, Babasaheb Dr BR Ambedkar, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, Dr Rajendra Prasad, KM Munshi, Sarojini Naidu, Alladi Krishnaswamy Ayyar, Rajkumari Amrit Kaur and several eminent personalities were not just revered national icons but inspiring personalities who became the torchbearers of hope for generations together.
No mention of the Constituent Assembly should be complete without recalling the contribution of the 15 women members who provided equally important inputs for an inclusive India, the Congress president said.
‘We must also not forget that the Constituent Assembly received uncountable suggestions from ordinary citizens which are a matter of record,’ he said.
The Objectives Resolution moved by Nehru and Ambedkar’s momentous last speech to the Constituent Assembly form the Magna Carta in protecting the tenets of the Constitution, he said.
‘We, the patriotic citizens of India, now have the onerous task of protecting the ethos of the Constitution,’ Kharge said.
‘We, the people of India, should, therefore, come together to protect each and every thought expressed in the Constitution,’ he said.
In the 75th year of the Constitution’s adoption, the struggle to defend India’s inherent philosophy must be reinvigorated and reignited, just like the era of the national movement, the Congress president said.
Congress general secretary in-charge organisation K C Venugopal said India marks an important landmark as it celebrates the 75th Constitution Day today, a day when Ambedkar’s revolutionary text was adopted by the Constituent Assembly.
The Constitution of India is not merely a document, it is India’s soul and history of millennia in motion, he said in a post on X.
‘A living document that gives hope to 140 crore Indians, the Constitution is what keeps the ideals of justice, equality, inclusivity and democracy alive in India,’ Venugopal said.
‘Let us come together to ensure that the Constitution which came alive due to the vision and efforts of Pandit Nehru, Dr. Ambedkar, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, KM Munshi, Sarojini Naidu, Maulana Abdul Kalam Azad, Rajkumari Amrit Kaur and which carries Gandhian principles in various forms, is the sole guiding force for those in public life,’ he said.
‘The Constitution was born out of the intense struggle to free ourselves from colonial oppression, to give ourselves the freedom to craft our own destiny and live in a nation where evils of untouchability, caste and religious discrimination, inequality on gender and other lines are rejected,’ Venugopal said.
It made us into a vibrant country that has always welcomed and respected diversity of thought, he asserted.
‘At a time when those out to destroy the Constitution are showing insincere commitment towards it, our duty to protect it and fight for its true values becomes all the more relevant,’ Venugopal said.
Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh recalled two books on the 75th anniversary of the adoption of the Constitution of India by the Constituent Assembly.
Many books have been, and continue to be written on the making of the Constitution. But two have become evergreen classics, he said.
‘Granville Austin’s scholarly ‘The Indian Constitution: Cornerstone of a Nation’ first appeared in 1966. He had got unprecedented access to the private collections of a number of key personalities, especially Dr. Rajendra Prasad and K.M. Munshi. He had also interviewed many members of the Constituent Assembly,’ Ramesh said.
B.Shiva Rao’s magisterial four-volume ‘The Framing of the Indian Constitution’ was published in 1968, he noted.
It has a very poignant letter from Nehru to Shiva Rao on writing a foreword sent just three days before the then prime minister passed away, Ramesh recalled.
Incidentally, Shiva Rao’s almost now-forgotten brother Benegal Narsing Rau was a pivotal player in the making of the Constitution, he said.