Why PM Modi talked about CM Modi’s celebration of the Constitution

The ‘Samvidhan Sammaan Yatra’ that he spoke about during the debate in Lok Sabha last week, thus, marked a beginning.

Surendranagar as site

The Samvidhan Samman Yatra was held in Surendranagar district of Gujarat’s Saurashtra region on January 25, 2010, on the eve of Republic Day, to mark 60 years of the Constitution — counting back to January 26, 1950, when India adopted the Constitution and became a Republic. Incidentally, the Modi government at the Centre celebrates November 26 as Constitution Day since 2015, as this was the day the Constituent Assembly adopted the Constitution.

In 2010, the Gujarat government had picked Surendranagar as the site of its Republic Day celebrations, as part of the initiative started by Modi then to take governance to the district level by holding important events at various district headquarters instead of just the state capital Gandhinagar.

The Surendranagar district, which has the highest concentration of Dalits in the state (at around 12%), has always been a hotspot for atrocities against Dalits in Gujarat. Following the flogging of Dalit youths in 2016 in Una in Saurashtra region, among the districts that saw the most widespread protests was Surendranagar.

The yatra

As per official records accessed by The Indian Express, a replica of the Constitution was placed on an ‘ambadi (howdah)’, a special saddle for an elephant. CM Modi first “worshiped” the Constitution and then led the procession on foot, accompanied by 60 girls from oppressed communities, each holding a copy of the Constitution in a golden kalash (pot) over their heads.

The procession also included children performing dances, religious seers and leaders, a police band, as well as 60 teachers clad in the attire of Dr B R Ambedkar, who headed the drafting committee for the Constitution.

The yatra concluded at the Town Hall Tower Chowk in Surendranagar, where Modi addressed a crowd. In his speech, the CM urged the public to “dedicate itself to making India a powerful democracy”, and noted that while the rest of the country would celebrate the 61st Republic Day, the act of honouring the Constitution began from Gujarat.

Those in attendance

Among the notable attendees at the yatra were then Gujarat Assembly Speaker Ashok Bhatt; then state ministers Anandiben Patel, Nitin Patel, Fakirbhai Vaghela, Amit Shah, Jay Nararyan Vyas, Ramanlal Vora, and Kiritsinh Rana; then BJP Gujarat chief Parshottam Rupala; former minister Bhupendrasinh Chudasama; MLAs Varshaben Doshi, Shambhuprasad Tundiya and Bharat Khorani; and former MLA I K Jadeja.

Recalling the yatra, Rupala, now an MP, said he doesn’t remember Surendranagar being picked for a specific reason. “As CM, Narendrabhai had started state celebrations of Republic Day, Independence Day and Gujarat Foundation Day (May 1) at the district level. And this unique ‘gaurav (pride) yatra’ of the Constitution was carried out on the back of an elephant. We have seen in ancient pictures where Siddharaj Jaysinh (erstwhile ruler of Gujarat) led a procession of a book written by Hemchandracharya (Siddhahem Shabdanusasana) set on the back of an elephant. But here, we saw the Constitution on the back of an elephant during a procession,” Rupala said.

Then education minister and Surendranangar district in-charge Ramanlal Vora recalled that the procession covered a distance of around 3 km. “As far as I remember, after the procession of Siddhahem (Shabdanushasan) on the back of an elephant in Patan by Siddharaj Jaysinh, this was the first time in Gujarat and India where a Constitution yatra was carried out on the back of an elephant, and this was done by Narendrabhai Modi.”

In later years

A senior Gujarat BJP leader and former state minister said that after the Samvidhan Samman Yatra of 2010, no major event was held by the Gujarat government to commemorate the Constitution. However, the leader added, after November 26 was declared Constitution Day by the Centre in 2015, the Scheduled Caste Morcha of the state BJP has been taking out small processions bearing the Constitution at district level.

In December 2019, then CM Vijay Rupani moved a proposal in the Gujarat Assembly to express the House’s commitment to spreading the values of the Constitution, with celebration of November 26 as Samvidhan Divas.

Speaking on the proposal, the then Deputy CM Nitin Patel referred to the 2010 Samvidhan Samman Yatra held by CM Modi in Surendranagar. This prompted a protest by then Independent (and now Congress) MLA Jignesh Mevani, who referred to the killing of three Dalit youths in police firing incident in Surendranagar district’s Thangadh town in September 2012. Mevani rushed to the Well of the House and was taken out by the marshals. He was then suspended from the House for the rest of the Session.