Nehru to chief ministers before the Republic Day in 1958: it was different then

As we approach Republic Day this year, instead of the usual excitement that accompanies the colourful event, we are worrying about the fate of the Central Vista which hosts the parade, the absence of a respected foreign head of state as the Chief Guest and the implications of the Tractor March planned by protesting kisans. In contrast, 63 years ago, in less troubled times, Jawaharlal Nehru captured the festive spirit of the occasion in his fortnightly letter to the Chief Ministers, not forgetting to remind them of the anniversary of Gandhji’s assassination that follows soon after, on the 30th of January.

“My dear Chief Minister, In another two days, we shall complete eight years of our Republic and Republic Day will be celebrated all over India. These celebrations are growing in importance year by year and becoming a notable popular event in our calendar. India is well known for her festivals, perhaps there are too many of them, involving a stoppage of work when work is most needed. Yet, all our festivals are occasions for popular rejoicing and so they are good. They relieve the drabness and monotony of life for our people and bring out the essential vitality and joy of life that is in them. Republic Day is becoming one of our great popular festivals now.

Delhi celebrates this great day in an impressive manner and becomes for this event, not merely the capital of India, but the heart and symbol of this great country. These celebrations become bigger and bigger and attract vast crowds. People from all over the country assemble here and an increasing number of foreigners too witness this great popu lar display. During the last few days there have been preparations for this celebration and there is stir and excitement all over this oldnew city.

There are rehearsals and there is the tramp of men on the march and gallant cavalcades, and aircraft whirring and zooming through the sky. Above all, there is the moving sight of people coming from the far corners of the country in multi-coloured attire, and folk dancers dancing their way through the streets. The air is full of song and dance and laughter. This afternoon I went to the camp in Talkatora gardens of New Delhi where many hundreds of these folk dancers and other people from the distant frontiers of India are staying. It was a sight which moved me greatly, for here I saw the thousand faces of India, all different and yet bearing the common impress of our land. They were full of the spirit of joy and in their great variety there was a unity and harmony. On Republic Day there will be the great parade and hour after hour this moving pageant of India will pass by. There will be men of our Defence Forces, the Army, the Navy and the Air Force, the machines of war trundling by, aircraft swooping down from the heights and breaking the sound barrier, the Territorial Army, the cadets of the NCC, the Lok Sahayak Sena and the smart young sea cadets, boys and girls, marching proudly and smartly. The parade will gradually change its character and become a pageant representing the different States of India, the past and the present. School boys and school girls will follow in rhythmic array. Industrial workers, trade unions and others will join this noble procession. It would seem that the past was mingling with the present and the two, hand in hand, were going into the future. It will be symbolic of the hundreds of millions of India marching to that future which they are themselves shaping. Surely, there are few celebrations anywhere in the world more moving and symbolic than this parade and pageant of India on Republic Day.

The next few days will witness many other celebrations and notably folk dances, which have become such an important and pleasing feature of this week. We shall forget the problems of the world and our own difficulties and live in the excitement of India of today, dreaming of tomorrow. And then, suddenly on the 30th of January, we shall be pulled back, remembering the Father of the Nation and how he laboured and died for India. His message will ring in our ears and the call to action and dedication will come to us again.”

(Selected and edited by Mridula Mukherjee, former Professor of History at JNU and former Director of Nehru Memorial Museum and Library)