Today, we celebrate the 60th anniversary of India's coming into
existence as a "Republic", a date that many consider to be as
important as the 15th of August 1947, when India finally shook
off the last vestiges of foreign domination and went on to
fulfill its tryst with destiny. As a friend of mine, Gopal
Sankaranarayanan writes in the Hindu: "In many ways, August 15
would have little meaning if not for January 26. For, although
independent, the vast land that formed colonial India was
peopled by a multitude, divided by language, religion and
ethnicity, and still treated as a Dominion of Britain, with
George VI continuing as the Head of State. Scarred by partition
and rendered rudderless with the passing of its foremost leader,
they sought a rallying point — one that would bring them
together, not merely symbolically, but as a living truth. That
succour was the Constitution of India, signed in after two years
of debate among the most outstanding minds of the time. The
adoption of the Constitution on that mome