On Constitution Day, PM's 2010 ‘Samvidhan Gaurav Yatra’ memory a King Siddharaj parallel

Honouring the inception of the country's supreme law, India enthusiastically observed the 5th Constitution Day on Wednesday. An initiative by Prime Minister Narendra Modi which he implemented during his first term, the Constitution Day commemorates the adoption of the Constitution of India on November 26, 1949. On the occasion, Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed the concluding session of the All India Presiding Officers Conference and extended his good wishes to the entire country on the occasion of 'Democracy's biggest festival'. In his address, the Prime Minister also recalled the 'Samvidhan Gaurav Yatra' - a procession he organized in 2010 as Gujarat CM to honour the Constitution.

The Prime Minister has always emphasized on the significance of the Constitution and highlighted its sanctity. Apart from introducing the Constitution Day in 2015, PM Modi has marked the occasion annually with sheer enthusiasm. In 2019, a joint session of the Parliament was held to celebrate the day whereas in 2010, to mark 60 years of the Constitution, then Gujarat CM Narendra Modi had organised a 'Samvidhan Gaurav Yatra'. 

The 'Samvidhan Gaurav Yatra' was an enormous procession organised by the then Gujarat CM Modi, to mark 60 years of the Constitution. PM Modi himself was a part of the procession, in which a gigantic replica of the Constitution was placed on a decorated elephant. Nearly 15,000 people including BJP leaders and Cabinet Ministers were part of the 1.1 km-long processions in Gujarat.

"In 2010, to mark 60 years of the Constitution, we organised the Samvidhan Gaurav Yatra in Surendranagar, Gujarat. A replica of the Constitution was placed on an elephant and the procession covered parts of the city. I too walked in that procession. It was a unique tribute!" PM Modi recalled in his address on Thursday. 

Observers of history say that this was an unprecedented event. The only parallel of this event was when King Siddharaj had organised similar procession centuries ago to honour the text written by Acharya Hemachandra. It is believed that King Siddharaj Jayasimha in 1138-39 had held a procession on an elephant to honour Acharya Hemachandra. Acharya Hemachandra had written an exhaustive volume of grammar entitled ‘Siddhahema’ containing one lakh and twenty-five thousand shlokas to immortalize the memory of King Siddharaj's reign. The new grammar outlined by Acharya Hemachandra in the 12th century replaced all exiting grammars and was alone studied everywhere, as per historians. 

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