Republic Day
India gained its independence on 15 August 1947, after which the process of preparing a constitution was started. The Constitution was passed on 26 November 1949 in the Constituent Assembly. It was adopted on 26 January 1950 with a democratic government system. 26 January was selected, because it was this day in 1930 when the Declaration of Indian Independence was passed.
India achieved independence from British rule on 15 August 1947 following the Indian independence movement noted for largely peaceful nonviolent resistance and civil disobedience led by the Indian National Congress. The independence came through the Indian Independence Act 1947 (10 & 11 Geo 6 c. 30), an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that partitioned British India into the two new independent Dominions of the British Commonwealth (later Commonwealth of Nations): India and Pakistan. India obtained its independence on 15 August 1947 as a constitutional monarchy with George VI as head of state and the Earl Mountbatten as governor-general. The country, though, did not yet have a permanent constitution; instead its laws were based on the modified colonial Government of India Act 1935. On 28 August 1947, the Drafting Committee was appointed to draft a permanent constitution, with Dr.B. R. Ambedkar as chairman. While India's Independence Day celebrates its freedom from British Rule, the Republic Day celebrates of coming into force of its constitution.
Speeches about Indian independence
On 15 August 1947, Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Prime Minister of free India, addressed the Constituent Assembly. In his famous speech, "Tryst with Destiny", he declared the end of the colonial era and called on citizens to recognize the promise and opportunity of the moment:
"Long years ago, we made a tryst with destiny. Now the time has come when we shall redeem our pledge - not wholly or in full measure - but very substantially. At the stroke of the midnight hour, when the world sleeps, India will awake to life and freedom. A moment comes, but rarely in history, when we step out from the old to the new, when an age ends, and when the soul of a nation, long suppressed, finds utterance."