Article by mohdrafi.com

Today we celebrate our republic day. Its one of the greatest national celebrations observed throughout the country on January 26 every year. During the first republic day celebration at the Red Fort, on 26th January 1950, Rafi Sahab was allotted only three minutes to sing Leheravo Tiranga Leheravo. The exuberance of Rafi’s vocals casted a spell and he was allowed to stay on the stage for more than 30 minutes. The audience were tempted to watch Rafi Sahab than their watches.

India became a sovereign democratic republic with a written constitution and an elected parliament. At the time of independence, although India was under British rule, there were 565 Princely States, big and small, ruled by powerful sovereigns who were protected by treaties of alliance with the British Crown. Without bringing them together, the fundamental unity of the country was not possible. This unification was accomplished by Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, whose statesmanship helped to integrate the country into one nation. In a little less than 2 years, all the princely States became a part of the Republic of India.

This blog was published on Thursday, January 26th, 2006 at 6:28 am and Last modified on Monday, January 23rd, 2006 at 8:28 pm and is filed under Meri Awaaz Suno. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.