Over the past 55 years, Republic Day in India has become a strong and stable symbol of the power of the people and India’s abiding faith in democracy. Republic Day always comes as the Day of the President, who is the symbol of the Indian State and the Constitution. In the last half of the 20th century, since India won freedom, and till date, no other country in the world has produced such a distinguished galaxy of Rashtrapatis or ‘Custodians of the Nation’. And when I look at this distinguished array, I am filled with pride that my country has upheld democratic liberalism, tolerance, amity among communities, religions and the nation above politics, in the personality of its great presidents.

I have been among those lucky ones who had the privilege of seeing most of the presidents of India personally and at close quarters, beginning with the first President of India, Dr. Rajendra Prasad. .

An analysis of the presidential galaxy since Dr. Rajendra Prasad reveals the very spirit of India, its maturity, tolerance and its unity in diversity of the highest order. While Bihar was the first State to send a great son to adorn Rashtrapati Bhavan as the first citizen of the country, he was succeeded by presidents from Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Orissa, Assam, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh and Punjab. It meant that the distinguished presidents of India came from all communities and religions of India. Including the present President of India, Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam, the first distinguished scientist to adorn the highest office in the country, there have been two equally great presidents from the minority community of India, Dr. Zakir Husain, a great educationist, and Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed, who belonged to one of the oldest and the most distinguished Muslim families of the subcontinent and was a legal luminary before he entered politics in Assam. South India provided several great presidents from various States and communities. The successor of Dr. Rajendra Prasad was Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, a distinguished teacher whose birthday is celebrated all over the country as Teachers’ Day. After Dr. Radhakrishnan, the distinguished sons of the South who adorned the Presidency includedV. V. Giri, a distinguished labour leader of Telugu descent who came from the Telugu-dominated district of Berhampur, N. Sanijva Reddy, who was a non-Brahmin from Andhra Pradesh, R. Venkataraman from Tamil Nadu, K. R. Narayanan, also a non-Brahmin from Kerala and the present President, Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam. Madhya Pradesh provided
Dr. Shankar Dayal Sharma, a distinguished son of a radical Brahmin family for the Presidency and Punjab provided Giani Zail Singh from the Sikh minority community. Of course, India has not had a woman president so far although some distinguished women have held honoured gubernatorial positions.

The profile of the Indian presidency clearly shows significant things. One, India is perhaps the only democracy in the world which is truly pluralistic, tolerant, liberal and its presidency is both the symbol and proof of it. The second thing is that the distinguished presidents of India have brought with them a high level of dignity and grace, an overall national and liberal outlook and enrichment from various professional backgrounds, including education, law, governance and science. It is only India which can have a leading atomic scientist as its President. And that makes people like me full of pride and Pray that the Republic and its hopes, ideals and aspirations are safe in the hands of its Presidents.

Republic Day will also remind us of our cultural democracy and our abiding faith and concern on issues of development. The Republic Day parade at Rajpath is an ever-reassuring demonstration of our cultural wealth.