New Delhi: New Delhi's historic Rajpath has over a period of time become synonymous with the annual Republic Day event, but the boulevard that runs from Rashtrapati Bhavan on Raisina Hill through Vijay Chowk and India Gate was not the venue of first Republic Day celebrations marking the birth of the Republic.
India gained its independence on 15 August 1947, after which the process of preparing a Constitution was started.
The Constitution was passed on 26 November 1949 by the Constituent Assembly. It was adopted on 26 January 1950 with a democratic government system, when the country became a republic in the true sense. 26 th January was selected, because it was on this day in 1930 that the Indian National Congress at its session in Lahore on the banks of river Ravi passed the resolution of complete Swarajya.
Exactly 65 years ago, after having thrown off the British colonial yoke, a free India assumed the mantle of a “Sovereign Democratic Republic” on January 26, and an amphitheatre named after an erstwhile Viceroy, became the venue for the festivities after the country got its first President.
Watch in pics the Republic Day celebrations in years:
