40 Fun Facts About Indian Republic Day

The Constitution took effect on 26 January 1950 to honour which anniversary, not its adoption date two months before?

The 1930 independence declaration had been marked by Congress as Independence Day every 26 January since, so the Constituent Assembly timed the new republic to start on that date.

Which other country holds its national day on 26 January, there marking a British fleet's 1788 landing?

Australia shares the date by coincidence: its holiday marks Arthur Phillip raising the Union Flag at Sydney Cove in 1788, a day Aboriginal groups have marked as a Day of Mourning since 1938 and as Invasion Day since 1988.

Who unfurls the flag at the Republic Day parade, while the prime minister hoists it at the Red Fort on 15 August?

The head of state, the President, unfurls it in New Delhi while governors and lieutenant governors do the same in every state and union territory; the Red Fort belongs to 15 August.

Which country's president was chief guest at the first Republic Day parade in 1950 and again at the 2025 parade?

Indonesia's Sukarno took the salute in 1950 and Prabowo Subianto did so 75 years later, the country's fourth invitation, a tally matched only by Bhutan and Russia.

Who was sworn in as India's first President on 26 January 1950, having presided over the Constituent Assembly?

Rajendra Prasad's sister Bhagwati Devi died on the night of 25 January 1950, and he went to the parade ground before arranging her cremation.

Who chaired the seven-member Drafting Committee that the Constituent Assembly appointed on 29 August 1947?

B. R. Ambedkar's committee took the adviser's rough draft through three drafts and three readings, the clause-by-clause second reading alone lasting over a year.

What distinction does India's Constitution, at about 145,000 words, hold among those of sovereign states?

The longest national constitution anywhere is beaten among all constitutions only by Alabama's, and it opened with 22 parts and 8 schedules.

Which venue flanked by the North and South Blocks hosts the Beating Retreat that ends Republic Day week?

Vijay Chowk's ceremony was conceived in the mid-1950s by two Indian Army officers, and since 2011 its massed bands have shed most foreign tunes in favour of Indian ones.

With 26 January and 15 August, which date completes India's list of only three national holidays?

2 October, Gandhi's birthday, is the third holiday binding nationwide on all states and union territories; every other day off is a central, optional or regional holiday.

Who in 2015 became the first United States president to attend the Republic Day parade as its chief guest?

Barack Obama's was the first invitation ever sent to Washington, by which point Moscow had already been asked four times.

Which city's December 1929 Congress session, with Nehru presiding, adopted the Purna Swaraj resolution?

Lahore's session saw 172 Indian members of central and provincial legislatures resign their seats in support of the pledge.

On which river's bank did Nehru raise the tricolour at midnight on 31 December 1929, sealing the Congress pledge?

The Ravi's midnight flag-raising came with a pledge that included a readiness to withhold taxes, and the crowd was asked to raise hands in approval.

Which name did Rajpath, the Republic Day parade avenue once called Kingsway, receive in September 2022?

Kartavya Path, 'Path of Duty', replaced a name that itself translated Kingsway, chosen to honour George V's 1911 Durbar visit when the capital moved to Delhi.

Which year saw the first Republic Day parade on Rajpath, after five editions at a stadium, the Red Fort and Ramlila?

1955 also brought the first Beating Retreat, so the parade and its closing ceremony both take their present form from the same year.

Which Delhi venue, now the Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium, hosted the first Republic Day parade in 1950?

Irwin Amphitheatre was one of four sites the parade moved between before settling on Rajpath, the others being Kingsway, the Red Fort and Ramlila Maidan.

Which civilian honours, instituted in 1954 and ranked just below the Bharat Ratna, are announced every Republic Day?

Padma awards come in three grades, Vibhushan, Bhushan and Shri, and bring no cash, no travel concessions and no right to use the honour as a title.

Which wartime gallantry medal, first won by Major Somnath Sharma, is among those the President hands out at the parade?

Param Vir Chakra medals were designed by Savitri Khanolkar, an officer's wife, whose daughter's brother-in-law Somnath Sharma became the first recipient.

Which organisation parades the world's only camel-mounted military contingent down Rajpath each Republic Day?

Border Security Force camelry descends from Bikaner's princely camel troops and keeps 1,200 camels and 800 riders to patrol the desert frontier.

How many spokes has the navy-blue Ashoka Chakra on India's flag, modelled on an Ashokan lion capital?

24 evenly spaced spokes fill the chakra Nehru proposed in July 1947 partly because, unlike the earlier emblem, it would look the same from both sides of the cloth.

Which Gandhian emblem on the Congress's Swaraj flag did the Constituent Assembly swap for the Ashoka Chakra in 1947?

The spinning wheel's removal displeased Gandhi at first, though Nehru argued the change was practical and Radhakrishnan called the new wheel a symbol of dharma and law.

Which Tagore song did the Constituent Assembly adopt as the national anthem on 24 January 1950?

Jana Gana Mana was first sung in public at the Congress session in Calcutta on 27 December 1911, and its full rendition runs about 52 seconds.

Which Indian Army branch fields the 'Dare Devils', the motorcycle stunt team that traditionally closes the parade?

Corps of Signals dispatch riders hold several Guinness records, and in 2020 the corps' marching contingent, led by Captain Tania Shergill, was judged the parade's best.

India's state emblem, adopted on 26 January 1950, copies a lion capital Ashoka raised at which site near Varanasi?

Sarnath's capital lay buried until the Archaeological Survey dug it up in 1904–05, and it sits in the Sarnath Museum rather than on its broken pillar.

From which Upanishad comes 'Satyameva Jayate', the motto inscribed beneath India's state emblem since 1950?

Mundaka Upanishad's mantra 3.1.6 entered the national vocabulary through Madan Mohan Malaviya in 1918, in his second term as Congress president.

Which two animals flank the wheel on the abacus of India's state emblem, which omits the original's lotus base?

Horse and bull stand for speed and steadfastness, and of the four lions on the capital only three show, the fourth hidden behind.

Who hand-lettered the English original of the Constitution in flowing italic script, asking no fee for six months' work?

Prem Behari Raizada's one condition was to sign every page and add his grandfather's name on the last; the 251-page manuscript weighs 3.75 kg.

Which constitutional adviser, later an International Court of Justice judge, wrote the first draft of the Constitution?

B. N. Rau toured the US, Canada, Ireland and the UK in late 1947, where Justice Felix Frankfurter warned him against writing 'due process' into the text.

Who chaired the Constituent Assembly's first sitting on 9 December 1946 as its eldest member, following French practice?

Sachchidananda Sinha handed over to an elected president two days later and died in March 1950, weeks after the republic he helped open was born.

Since 2015, which date is marked as Samvidhan Divas, the day the Constituent Assembly adopted the Constitution in 1949?

26 November became Constitution Day by a gazette notification of 19 November 2015, and Parliament held a special session with the complex lit up for the first one.

How many articles did India's Constitution contain when it took effect, arranged in 22 parts and 8 schedules?

395 articles, with more than 100 amendments since, took the Assembly 165 sitting days across eleven sessions to settle.

Which office, held by C. Rajagopalachari as its only Indian occupant, lapsed when India became a republic in 1950?

The Governor-General's post ran from 1773 to the republic, and of its substantive holders only the first and last, Warren Hastings and Rajagopalachari, carried no honorific title.

What was Rashtrapati Bhavan, the Viceroy's residence on Raisina Hill, called from 1947 until renamed in 1950?

Government House's Indian occupant, Rajagopalachari, chose a few rooms in the guest wing and turned the viceregal apartments into quarters for visiting leaders.

Malik Ghulam Muhammad, chief guest at the first parade held on Rajpath, led which neighbouring country?

Pakistan sent Malik Ghulam Muhammad to that parade and, ten years on, its food minister Rana Abdul Hamid, months before the two countries went to war.

Which president, months after his country's first all-race election, was chief guest at the 1995 Republic Day parade?

Nelson Mandela's visit was South Africa's first invitation; Cyril Ramaphosa took the country's second in 2019.

Which Brazilian president was chief guest in 2020, the last foreign leader to take the honour before 2023?

Jair Bolsonaro's was Brazil's third invitation, after Fernando Henrique Cardoso in 1996 and Lula in 2004; no chief guest came in 2021 or 2022.

The 1966 parade had no chief guest after which prime minister died in Tashkent on 11 January, fifteen days earlier?

Lal Bahadur Shastri's successor Indira Gandhi was sworn in on 24 January 1966, two days before the parade, so no invitation had gone out.

Which ten-nation bloc's leaders were joint chief guests at the 2018 Republic Day parade, their flags leading the march?

ASEAN's ten leaders made the first multi-guest parade since 1974, and two tableaux showed India's links with their countries.

Which bloc sent its two presidents as joint chief guests in 2026, the first parade with more than one guest since 2018?

European Union presidents Ursula von der Leyen and António Costa were the first EU leadership invited jointly, in a nod to the India–EU strategic partnership.

Which country, chief guest a record six times, sent the first foreign troops to march in a Republic Day parade, in 2016?

France's six invitations run from 1976 to Emmanuel Macron in 2024, and its soldiers and army band marched down Rajpath at the 67th parade in 2016.

Which hymn, said to be a favourite of Gandhi, was dropped from the Beating Retreat ceremony in 2022 after seven decades?

Abide with Me gave way to 'Ae Mere Watan Ke Logon', the 1963 song for soldiers of the China war, in what officials called part of decolonising India.