Constitution has given us the power to dream, says PM Narendra Modi

In a letter on Constitution Day, he urges citizens to fulfil constitutional duties

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday urged the citizens of India to fulfil their constitutional duties and strengthen democracy by exercising their right to vote.

 

In a letter to the people of the country on the occasion of Constitution Day, PM Modi called upon citizens to place their duties foremost in their minds as India moves towards the vision of a Viksit Bharat.

 

The Constitution Day celebrations were held at the Central Hall of the Old Parliament building here and state capitals. The programme at the Central Hall included the reading of the Preamble led by President Droupadi Murmu.

 

Besides Murmu, those seated at the dais included Vice-President C P Radhakrishnan, Prime Minister Modi, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, Opposition leaders Mallikarjun Kharge and Rahul Gandhi, Union ministers J P Nadda and Kiren Rijiju and Deputy Chairman of Rajya Sabha Harivansh. Several union ministers and MPs from both houses of Parliament also attended the event.

 

In her speech, President Murmu said that the Constitution is the cornerstone of the nation's identity as also the guiding document to shun colonial mindset and adopt nationalistic thinking.

 

PM Modi said that it is the power of India’s Constitution that someone like him, “coming from a humble and economically disadvantaged family”, has served as the head of the government continuously for over 24 years. “This Constitution has given several others, like me, the power to dream and the strength to work towards it,” he said.

 

The celebrations, which mark the adoption of the Constitution on this day in 1949, turned into political contestation between the Centre and state governments run by the INDIA bloc parties. It was reminiscent of the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and Congress-led INDIA bloc’s campaigns on the issue in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

 

In his letter, the PM noted that in 2010, when the Constitution completed 60 years, “the occasion did not receive the attention it deserved at a national level”. Modi pointed out that a ‘Samvidhan Gaurav Yatra’ was organised in Gujarat “to express our collective gratitude and commitment to the Constitution”. Modi was then the chief minister of Gujarat.

 

The PM said that when the Constitution completed 75 years, “we” at the Centre “decided that this would be an extraordinary milestone for the people of India”, and convened a special session of Parliament. The PM also recalled that in 2014, when he came to Parliament for the first time, he bowed and touched with his forehead the steps of “the greatest temple of democracy”. “Again, in 2019, after the election results, when I entered the Central Hall of Samvidhan Sadan (the old Parliament building), I bowed and placed the Constitution on my forehead as a mark of reverence,” he stated.

 

In Kolkata, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, after garlanding the statue of B R Ambedkar at Red Road, alleged the special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls was aimed at implementing the National Register of Citizens (NRC), or NRC “through the backdoor”, and creating fear among the ordinary people.

 

“I am observing with sorrow that people's voting rights are being taken away, their religious rights are being taken away. Attacks are being made using vile language, and no one is being spared, not even Dalits, minorities or the common Hindu voters," she said, with the Constitution in her hand. Banerjee said that people who have "nurtured the soil of this country for years" were now being asked to prove their right to live in India. “In the name of citizenship rights, an atmosphere of intense fear has been created,” she added.

 

Banerjee expressed concern over reports that MPs were allegedly being restricted from saying ‘Jai Hind' and ‘Vande Mataram' inside Parliament, and asked whether such measures were aimed at undermining West Bengal's identity. “I do not know whether this is true, and I will ask the MPs," Banerjee said.

 

In Bengaluru, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah called upon people to identify ‘anti-constitutional Manuwadis' who favour the 'Manusmriti' over the Constitution. Addressing a gathering after inaugurating the ‘Constitution Day Celebration’, Siddaramaiah said that an "unwritten Manusmriti" governed the country before Ambedkar's Constitution came into force.

 

The Congress accused the RSS-BJP of attacking and undermining the Constitution and said that it is being taken forward by PM Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah "who have been subverting constitutional principles in a calculated manner". The party said it was marking Constitution Day as 'Samvidhan Bachao Divas' across the country.

 

PM Modi said fundamental duties guide us on how to collectively achieve social and economic progress. Mahatma Gandhi always emphasised the duties of a citizen, and believed that a duty well performed creates a corresponding right and that real rights are a result of the performance of duty, Modi said.

 

The PM also stressed the responsibility of strengthening democracy by exercising the right to vote, and suggested that schools and colleges celebrate Constitution Day by honouring first-time voters. He said Sardar Patel's visionary leadership ensured the political unification of India.