Maha Bharat: Episode 1

Why is India a Republic?

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On January 26, 1950, India declared to the world that it is a sovereign, democratic republic. What did that mean though?

Did we have any other choice? and how was this choice made?

Through this episode, learn how a single decision taken by the leaders of our freedom struggle, cascaded into a series of incredible events that shaped the future of India.

Show Notes

All clips and voices used in this podcast are owned by the original creators

We thank wholeheartedly our guest who appeared on this episode:

  • Rohit De

Links to clips used in this episode —

Full Transcript of Episode 1

[Sounds from Republic Day Celebration]

My earliest memory of Republic day is being woken up by my parents on January 26th every year to watch the Republic Day parade on TV.

I remember watching the state-wise contingents rolling down Rajpath each making sure they stand out better than the rest — with their costumes, performances, stunts!

Oh also the air shows — with the commentator spelling out the make and type of the jet and who is flying it.

For a long time, I remember that the parade seemed equally exciting to me every year. I’ll be honest that as an adult, I don’t actually follow it as closely anymore.

Anyway, the reason I bring up the Republic Day parade is to ask a larger question actually — a question whose answer might seem obvious to you at first but maybe it isn’t actually?

Hear me out.

Do we know what exactly we are celebrating on January 26th every year?

Yes, we adopted the Constitution on January 26, 1950, which is why we celebrate that day as Republic Day. Yes, it was the day that India declared to the world that it is now an independent republic.

But what is a republic and why did India choose to become one? Were there other options?
And what is so remarkable about adopting a Constitution?

In simple words, the question I’m asking is do we know the significance of becoming a republic?

[We hear the voice of Pandit Nehru addressing the Nation.]

This was Jawaharlal Nehru speaking on August 15, 1947, when a brand new country called India was born.

But, think back to the time before 1947.

Before India became ONE country, it was a collection of mini-kingdoms/princely states — all of them under the control of the British.

When our freedom fighters launched a movement against the British, one important question for them to answer was — what next? — Once the British left, who would govern India after them? Who will now hold all of these individual kingdoms together? India, a freshly minted ( country , basically could take any avatar and it was also completely possible that after the British, some other group, party or individual could become the next ruler of India.
That’s when the leaders of our freedom movement came up with quite a remarkable solution.

And that was to make India a republic.

Now, what did that mean?

This meant that India will not be run by one man or woman, or a group of people but with the help of a guide book or a Constitution. In other words, India will be a republic, a country where kanoon ke saamne sab ek honge.

A republic, very broadly, is a system in which the powers belong to the people. It is a system in which the leaders are elected by the people. This means these leaders cannot be monarchs, kings, hereditary aristocrats. Now, once elected, how do these leaders govern the republic? Like I said before, with the help of a guidebook or a constitution. The Constitution is supreme and all people are equal before it.

This was quite a novel idea, especially since no one in the Indian region had ever been a citizen of a modern democratic republic. None of them also had any experience in writing a guide book for an entire country!

BUT they still had the ability to envision this for India’s future.

There’s a reason why the leaders of our freedom movement wanted to make India a republic.

During colonial rule, our leaders often heard the British say one thing: that we Indians were not meant to be democratic at all. The British believed that since India was religiously and socially backward, and had been ruled by a series of kings and empires for centuries, India can only be, therefore, ruled by an authoritarian ruler.

But India’s leaders took that very same opinion of the British as a challenge and by 1946, the leaders of our freedom struggle had actually done the unthinkable.

[We hear the voice of Dr. Ambedkar speaking in the Constituent Assembly in 1949.]

Over the course of a century, our freedom fighters had managed to plant the seeds of a modern democracy in India, they encouraged people to believe that they can be decision makers too, that they can differentiate between right and wrong, between what’s good and bad for them and hence, decide their destiny themselves.

This was no small achievement because Indian society even back then was very complex and diverse. It was actually, like the British said, backward, there was poverty and there was complete inequality. And not just that, rajas, royalty and even the British were still around.

In fact, it was Gandhiji who back in 1922 itself had said that Indians must shape their own destiny. He said that Swaraj or self-government cannot be the “gift of the British parliament” but must be achieved based on the wishes of Indians. He even said that the best way to understand the people’s wishes is by letting them freely choose their leaders.

You might remember being taught Bal Gangadhar Tilak’s famous quote – “Swaraj is my birthright and I shall have it”.

But how did the leaders of our freedom struggle figure out how to write this guide book for such a complicated and large country like India?


[We hear the voice of Pandit Nehru speaking in the Constituent Assembly.]

This was Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru speaking to this group called the ‘Constituent Assembly’ in December 1946.

By 1946, when freedom seemed much much closer, India’s leaders ensured that a group of people were elected and their main work would be to come up with the Constitution for India.

Socho, even with the making of the Indian constitution, the leaders of our freedom struggle were very clear that the Constituent Assembly, would be an elected body — that is everything that was going to be in the Constitution will be representative of the people’s wishes.

And for their part, the members of the Constituent Assembly also decided that they will debate, discuss and evaluate every single word that they will put in this book.

For this, there were a few goals that the Assembly kept in mind: Whatever document they came up with had to maintain national unity and stability. Next, this document had to set up institutions that would bring about a social renaissance — i.e. bring India out of starvation and economic backwardness to a society wherein every person is able to fulfill his or her potential.

Think about it, to think about this and put it in writing was quite incredible!

Anyway, so this Assembly, after nearly four years of hectic debates and discussions, finally came up with the Constitution which was then adopted on January 26, 1950.

Very remarkably, India basically gave itself a document and made this document, the constitution, its leader.

Kabhi socha hai, why did we choose 26th January to adopt the Constitution and not August 15 as the date?

That’s because the date 26th January has a unique significance in India’s history.

Let me tell you that story.

Rohit De
My name is Rohit De, I’m a lawyer and a historian and I teach at Yale University.

I learnt this story from Rohit De, a lawyer and historian who teaches at Yale University.

Rohit De
Since 1929, chhabis january was an important date for many Indians because that was the date the Indian National Congress had issued a declaration for Poorna Swaraj, Sampoorna Azadi, no dominion status, but complete self-sufficiency.

So, by the end of the 1920s, India’s leaders had decided that India would settle for nothing but Poorna Swaraj or complete independence.

Rohit De
This demand for complete azaadi had been made several times — originally by Maulana Hazrat Mohani, then by Subhash Chandra Bose and Nehru multiple times in the 20s. But the older leaders of the Congress had said wait,the British will give us Dominion status.

This decision wasn’t made overnight but it had been voiced by many leaders over time — Maulana Hazrat Mohani, Subhash Chandra Bose, Nehru etc. But Congress ke buzurg logon ne kaha tha ki, the British will give us Dominion Status. Like Srilanka for example.

What is a dominion?

Let’s take Sri Lanka’s example. Sri Lanka, which was then known as Ceylon became independent in 1948 but it was still a dominion of the british i.e. yaani even after becoming independent, Britishers still occupied important governmental and military posts. The head of the state of Sri Lanka was still the British monarch. Srilanka only became a republic in 1972.

Now, India’s leaders did not like the idea of becoming a dominion. They felt it was offensive to Indians.

Rohit De
Because being a dominion meant that we had to be loyal to a foreign king. Nehru famously said in the 1920s, when they offered Dominion status, that the idea itself suffocated and strangled him.

India’s leaders felt that becoming a dominion would mean that the British parliament would still have main control over India. That wouldn’t have changed! So the British could still have passed laws that would have limited our freedoms. Nehru in particular had said that the idea of dominion suffocated and strangled him.

Anyway. By 1929, India’s leaders realised that the British would never agree to give even Dominion status to India. So THAT’S when the Congress leaders told the British that India’s freedom is not some gift that the British has to give, it is India’s right.

Their exact words were:

Rohit De
Azaadi hum bhet mein nahi lenge, azaadi hum cheen ke lenge.

So, the Congress declared January 26 as independence day and from 1930, every year on January 26, Indians would gather in public places and read out the declaration of independence. They would raise the national flag, sing songs — basically, that day had become India’s independence day.

Becoming a republic was basically the final step in becoming fully independent.

THAT’s why India’s leaders decided that the Constitution — which makes India a republic — will be adopted on the day that India began its dream of independence: January 26.

It is remarkable that we not only became a republic in 1950 but that we still remain one.

Throughout world history, there has never been an experiment where so many people had been given the right to self rule. And all those people managed to pull off such an incredible feat too.

This dear friends, was the short story of why every year, we celebrate the massive and life-changing decision of becoming a republic. All the rights and duties we enjoy as Indian citizens, we owe it to this day.

We’ll be back next week with another episode of Maha Bharat.

Credits

Narrated by – Dhruv Rathee
Producer – Gaurav Vaz
Research help – Sidin Vadukut
Written by – Archana Nathan & Gaurav Vaz

Editing –

Title Track Design – Abhijith Nath
Audio Production –
Recorded at –