On 26^th January, 2025, India will celebrate Republic Day, with the theme this year being ‘Swarnim Bharat: Virasat aur Vikas‘ (Golden India: Heritage and Progress). Republic Day marks the adoption of India’s constitution and the country’s transition to a Sovereign Democratic Republic on January 26, 1950. Every year, the celebrations marking the day feature spectacular military and cultural pageantry. In New Delhi, armed forces personnel march along the Kartavya Path in an elaborate display of military might. The epic show on Kartavya Path eclipses everything else happening across the country on this auspicious day.

Republic Day also celebrates and honours the Constitution of India which every true patriot deems a Holy Book which enshrines and upholds various freedoms and Human Rights. Of course, freedom must be exercised with responsibility. The freedom to make our own decisions carries the liability to do so responsibly and keep the greater good of all in mind.

Celebrating Our Constitution

The Constitution of India was first adopted on November 26, 1949. However, it came into effect from January 26, 1950, which we celebrate every year as Republic Day. The Indian Constitution has borrowed provisions from the constitutions of various other countries. The ideals of Liberty, Equality, Fraternity come from the French Constitution and these words appear in the Preamble to the Constitution of India. The fundamentals of the Indian Constitution are enshrined in the Preamble, which guarantees its citizens social, economic and political Justice; Liberty of thought, expression, belief, faith and worship; Equality of status and opportunity, and to promote among the whole Fraternity assuring the dignity of the individuals. There are Six Fundamental Rights recognized by the Indian constitution: The Right to Equality; the Right to Freedom; the Right against Exploitation; the Right to Freedom of Religion; Cultural and Educational Rights; and the Right to Constitutional Remedies.

The Parsi Contribution

‘Parsi, thy name is Philanthropy’ is a common expression in India. However, it would not be misplaced even stating, ‘Parsi thy name is Patriotism’. Dadabhoy Naoroji is regarded as one of the most important Indians during the birth of India’s nascent Independence Movement. His book ‘Poverty and Un-British Rule in India’ brought attention to his theory of the Indian ‘wealth drain’ into Britain.

The founder, of the industrial house of Godrej, Ardeshir Godrej donated three lakh rupees in 1926 to the Tilak Fund for the upliftment of Harijans and was acknowledged by Mahatma Gandhi as, “the biggest contribution he had received for the cause.”

Long before India’s Independence, on August 21, 1907, Madam Bhikhaiji Cama designed and unfurled India’s flag of freedom at an International Socialist Conference, held at Stuttgart in Germany while post-independence, Field Marshall Sam Manekshaw scripted India’s victory in the war with Pakistan in 1971.

Parsi Friend Of The Father Of India’s Constitution

Upon India’s independence on August 15, 1947, the new Congress-led Government of India invited Dr. B. R. Ambedkar to serve as the nation’s first Law Minister. Thereafter, on August 29, 1947, he was appointed Chairman of the Constitution Drafting Committee, and was delegated by the Assembly to write India’s new Constitution. But, little do we know how a relatively unknown Parsi, Naval Bhathena, helped shape the future of the man who drafted India’s constitution.

Dr. Ambedkar met Naval Bhathena at as students at New York City’s Columbia University. Ambedkar was in New York on a scholarship from the Gaikwad of Baroda State, Maharaja Sayaji Rao, post which he wished to pursue further studies in London, which he was able to manage with financial help (a loan of five thousand rupees) from Naval Bhathena. In his letter to Bhathena, Dr. Ambedkar wrote, “Believe me, I extremely regret to see you bothered on my account. I fully realize that the worries which I have thrown on you are more than even the thickest of friend can bear. I only hope that my constant asking for something or other does not break your back, and alienate you from me – the only and dear friend of mine.”

After completing his law studies, Barrister Ambedkar decided to practice law, but had no money to obtain a sanad – a prerequisite for a practicing lawyer. Once again, Bhathena helped him financially, and thus Ambedkar got his sanad and was able to start practicing as a Barrister in June1925.

Upholding Human Rights

Human rights are the basic rights available to any human being by virtue of his birth as a human being – irrespective of nationality, religion, language, sex, colour or any other consideration. Noted jurist, Late Nani Palkhivala once said, “The test of rights is not whether the prosperous having access to the law courts are well protected, or whether living standards of the majority are improving, but whether the weak are helped by the strong.” Quoting Paul Sieghart, Palkhivala would say, “The ultimate measure of whether a society can properly be called civilized is how it treats those who are near the bottom of its human heaps.”

Human rights are Universal, Inalienable, Indivisible, Interdependent and Interrelated. They apply to all equally and are upheld by the rule of law and strengthened through legitimate claims for duty-bearers to be accountable to international standards.

The First Charter of Human Rights  

In 539 BC, the Persian King, Cyrus the Great, conquered the city of Babylon without shedding a drop of blood. But it was what he did after the conquest that marked an unprecedented and major progress for mankind. He freed the slaves and declared that all people had the right to choose their own creed; and established racial equality. These and other decrees were recorded on a baked-clay cylinder in the Akkadian language with cuneiform script, known today globally as the ‘Cyrus Cylinder’. This ancient record has been recognized as the world’s First Charter of Human Rights and is translated into all six official languages of the United Nations and its provisions, parallel the first four Articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

From Babylon, the concept of Human Rights spread quickly to India, Greece and eventually Rome. Documents asserting individual rights, such as the Magna Carta (1215); the Petition of Right (1628); the US Constitution (1787); the French Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen (1789); and the US Bill of Rights (1791); are the written precursors to many of today’s Human Rights documents.

Indian Holy Book

On this auspicious day, we wish one and all a very Happy Republic Day and would like to conclude with wise the words of Justice Rohinton Fali Nariman, “Let every person remember that the holy book is the Constitution of India, and it is with this book in hand, that the citizens of India march together as a nation, so that they may move forward in all spheres of human endeavour to achieve the great goals set out by this ‘Magna Carta’ or Great Charter of India.”