PM Modi, President Kovind, other leaders greet nation on Constitution Day

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu and other leaders on Monday extended greetings for Constitution Day.

"On Constitution Day we recall with pride the stellar contribution of the greats who served in our Constituent Assembly. We are proud of our Constitution and reiterate our commitment to uphold the values enshrined in it," the Prime Minister tweeted.

President Ram Nath Kovind, speaking at a Constitution Day event at Vigyan Bhavan, in New Delhi, extended warm greeting to all citizens and welcomed members of the judiciary from BIMSTEC countries "for an occasion that is not only important for India, but is a celebration of universal values, and allows for mutual learning and sharing". He called the Constitution of India "an inspirational and living document, an ideal of the society we are and the even better society we are striving to be". 

"Dr Ambedkar and his colleagues in the Constituent Assembly had trusted the wisdom of future generations to not just amend the Constitution, but to constructively re-imagine and reinterpret it," he said. 

"It is a paradox that our citizens, in whose name the Constitution was adopted, are sometimes not sufficiently informed about what the Constitution means for us. Let the 70th year of its adoption be dedicated to enhancing awareness about the Constitution," President Kovind said.

He urged people "to give the constitutional ethic a greater salience in all our thinking and all our actions".

 

In a series of tweets, the President spoke about safeguarding and strengthening the Constitution and upholding justice in its various forms. He spoke about the ideas of "social  and political justice", and how it has expanded to encompass today's civic parameters.

"Political justice in the electoral arena does not stop with free and fair elections and with universal franchise," he tweeted. He said that improving transparency in campaign finance, as the government is trying to do, is an example of promoting political justice. He added that disruptions in parliamentary proceedings can also be seen as an "encroachment on the citizen’s understanding of justice."

Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu too took to Twitter to felicitate all Indians on the occasion of Constitution Day.

"Our constitution is the voice of the marginalised the prudence of the majority. Its wisdom continues to guide us in moments of crisis. It's in our best interest to heed advice under constitution. If we don't, our hubris will result in sharp descent into chaos," said Chief Justice of India, Ranjan Gogoi in Delhi, news agency ANI reported.

"People of India today know who they are and what they owe to themselves. If we see 70 years down the line, the political process, the element of governance, the state craft the civil society, the media, all have contributed into the flowering of Indian Democracy," Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said, speaking at Vigyan Bhavan in Delhi. 

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee paid homage to Dr BR Ambedkar and all other members of the Constituent Assembly. 

"We must do everything we can to protect the spirit of our Constitution," she said.

Maharashtra CM, Devendra Fadnavis took part in a Preamble reading at Mumbai's Mantralaya to pay homage to Dr Ambedkar.

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister, N Chandrababu Naidu, took to Twitter to commemorate "the hard work of our leaders who drafted the constitution for the citizens".

Constitution Day is celebrated on 26 November every year to mark the adoption of the Constitution of India. On this date, in 1949, the Constituent Assembly had adopted the Indian Constitution, It came into effect on 26 January 1950.