The first Republic Day
January 26, 1950, was a momentous day in the lives of the people of India. Since 1930, Indians had been observing this day as ‘Independence Day’, pledging to strive towards Purna Swaraj or ‘complete Independence’. The anniversary of the day in 1950 was different. It had been decided that this would be the day for a formal proclamation of the Republic of India under the newly adopted Constitution. It would also see the swearing-in of the first President of India, ending the last vestiges of colonial rule. India would no longer be even in name a ‘Dominion’ within the British Empire, under a ‘Governor General’, albeit an Indian — Chakravarti Rajagopalachari.
For every citizen of India, it was a day of rejoicing, but also one of ceremony.
That morning, the President-elect, Dr Rajendra Prasad, arrived at Government House from his home at 1 Victoria Road (now known as Rajendra Prasad Road). This was his official residence while he was the chairman of the Constituent Assembly. Government House was still occupied by the Governor General. Inside Government House, the ceremony took place in Durbar Hall, which had been the main ceremonial hall during British rule, but recently had been playing a very different role. In 1948, a fledgling national museum had been set up in several rooms inside Government House, including Durbar Hall, pending the construction of a permanent museum. Now some of those exhibits had to be moved out of Durbar Hall to make way for the ceremonies. It was decided that one of these, a 5th century red sandstone statue of the Buddha, would be left there, on a pedestal behind the President’s chair. This created such a powerful impression that it was decided that this arrangement would become permanent, and the Buddha continues to stand in this position to this day.
In the Durbar Hall, after the Governor General had read out a formal proclamation announcing the birth of the Republic, the President was formally sworn in by the Chief Justice of the Federal Court (the soon to be Supreme Court), Justice HJ Kania. The President having been sworn in, the flag of the Governor General atop Government House was lowered, and the flag of the President was hoisted. This was a standard specially designed by the Director General of the Archaeological Survey of India, NP Chakravarti.
On this flag were depicted four emblems from Indian architecture — the four-lion capital from Sarnath representing unity, equality and fraternity; also from Sarnath, a purna ghata or pot with a lotus plant representing peace and abundance; an elephant from the Ajanta frescoes representing patience and strength; and scales of justice from the Red Fort at Delhi, representing justice and economy.
The raising of the flag was followed by the firing of a 31-gun salute in honour of the President.
The swearing-in ceremony, of course, was only a feature of the first Republic Day, not needing to be repeated in following anniversaries. The presidential flag, too, was put aside in 1971, since which time the National Flag has fluttered over the dome of the Rashtrapati Bhavan.
In the afternoon, the President set out from Government House in a carriage drawn by six horses, accompanied by his bodyguards on horses, on a drive that would take him to the Irwin Amphitheatre (now called Major Dhyan Chand Stadium), via a long route through the city. The route went through Vijay Chowk, past Parliament House, up Parliament Street, around Connaught Place, down Barakhamba Road, Sikandra Road, and Tilak Marg, around India Gate, to the stadium. The drive took more than an hour, and the President was greeted by thousands of citizens who lined the route.
In the stadium, the President, in his role as the Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces, unfurled the National Flag, and took the salute of contingents from the armed forces and the Delhi Police as they marched past. One highlight of the event was the flypast. This almost did not happen. A little over two months earlier, there had been an unfortunate accident where two planes flying in formation over Calcutta had collided, leading to several deaths. Since then, such flypasts over urban areas had been prohibited. Ultimately, an exception was made, and a flypast of nine aircraft in a simple formation was allowed.
Though several thousand guests had been present in the stadium, there was not enough room to accommodate the many more who might have liked to see the parade. In the following years, therefore, a different ceremonial would be worked out in order to accommodate more members of the public. The parade would be moved out of the stadium and on to Central Vista and beyond. At the same time, other elements such as the tableaux, school children and dance troupes would be incorporated into the parade, so that it would not be an exclusively military celebration. These features of the parade are familiar to us.
But the celebrations of the first Republic Day were not over. The next day, the President hosted some 3,000 people for tea in the gardens of the Rashtrapati Bhavan. Later that night, some 600 guests had been invited to Regal Theatre in Connaught Place to witness a performance of Kalidasa’s ‘Kumara Sambhava’ by Rukmini Devi and the artistes of Kalakshetra. The newly Independent nation was making a statement by celebrating its ancient culture as well as more recent traditions.
The official celebrations lasted two days, during which time public buildings were illuminated and celebrations took place around the country. In order to allow the people to celebrate this momentous day, a public holiday for both the 26th and 27th had been declared. They celebrated by lighting their homes, and flying the National Flag. We have celebrated this day each year since then, though in somewhat different ways.
— The writer is a Delhi-based historian