75th Constitution Day: History and significance of November 26

"On 26th January 1950, India will be an independent country," father of Indian Constitution BR Ambedkar had said as he presented the draft of Indian Constitution 75 years ago. But this optimism was accompanied by the anxiety of "Will she maintain her independence or will she lose it again?"

Prime Minister Narendra Modi extended his wishes to the citizens saying, "Happy Constitution Day to all countrymen on the auspicious occasion of 75th anniversary of the Indian Constitution," as he went on to explain the significance of the book.


This comes a day after the Supreme Court rejected petitions that sought to challenge the 1976 amendment to the Constitution, which introduced the terms "socialist," "secular," and "integrity" into the Preamble. These words were added through the 42nd Constitutional Amendment, passed during the tenure of the Indira Gandhi government.

Historical significance of Constitution Day

Constitution Day, or 'Samvidhan Divas,' is observed annually on November 26 to mark the adoption of the Constitution of India.

On this day in 1949, the Constituent Assembly of India adopted the Constitution, which came into force on January 26, 1950.

On November 19, 2015, the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment announced the Government of India's decision to observe November 26 as 'Constitution Day' each year, with the aim of promoting the values enshrined in the Constitution among citizens.

From being used as a weapon in politics to being a tool for the judiciary, the book has single-handedly acted as the legislative, the executive and the judiciary.

To sum up Ambedkar's apprehensions about the success of the Constitution, one may recall his own quote: . “Indeed, if I may say so, if things go wrong under the new Constitution, the reason will not be that we had a bad Constitution. What we will have to say is, that Man was vile.”