Republic Day 2011 Celebrations in India

The Chief Guest President of the Republic of Indonesia, Dr. H. Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, the Vice President, Shri Mohd. Hamid Ansari and the Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh being welcomed by the President, Smt. Pratibha Devisingh Patil, during the ‘At Home`, hosted by her, on the occasion of the 62nd Republic Day celebrations, at Rashtrapati Bhavan, in New Delhi on January 26, 2011.



PRESIDENT SPEECH:
My Fellow Citizens,

On the eve of our 62nd Republic Day, I extend my warmest greetings to all of you across the country and also to those living abroad. I convey my special greetings to the members of our Armed Forces and Para-Military Forces, who guard our frontiers and to our internal security forces. I also compliment every citizen from every walk of life for contributing to the process of nation-building.

26th January is a very significant date in our nation's calendar, when we celebrate the establishment of free India as a Republic based on the ideology of justice and equality. It is a day when we recall with gratitude the sacrifices of our freedom fighters and the work of our Founding Fathers, for giving to us a country where our dignity and individual freedoms are guaranteed by an enlightened Constitution. It must also be an occasion when we rededicate ourselves to maintaining harmony, peace and brotherhood. Most of all, it is a time to introspect about how we have fared so far, and in which direction are we moving.

For our achievements, the foremost credit goes to the drive and the dedicated hard work of millions of men and women of our country. We are witness to the increasing influence of India and its steady economic growth that has brought prosperity to an increasing number of people. We can be proud of our successes, but there are many significant tasks that are yet to be accomplished, in particular the pledge to empower the poor and the marginalized sections of our population so that they too can become a part of the growth story of our nation.