Constitution 'guiding light', spirit of 'nation first' will keep it alive for centuries: PM Modi

Modi said the Constitution has now been fully implemented in Jammu and Kashmir and Constitution Day was celebrated there for the first time

Prime Minister Narendra Modi hailed the Constitution on Tuesday as a "guiding light" at a time of transformation for India, asserting that his government has strengthened constitutional values by taking a host of welfare measures to bring social and financial equality.

Addressing an event at the Supreme Court to mark Constitution Day, Modi described the Constitution as a "living stream" that has lived up to the needs and expectations of the country, including the challenge of Emergency, and said it will continue to guide the nation through the changing times.

He also paid homage to the victims of the Mumbai terror attack, which occurred on this day in 2008, and said it is the country's resolve that all terror groups challenging its security will be given a befitting reply.

Recalling the words of Rajendra Prasad in his concluding address to the Constituent Assembly on November 26, 1949, Modi said he had stated that India does not need anything more than a group of honest people who will keep the country's interests above their own.

This sentiment of 'nation first' will keep alive the Constitution for centuries to come," he said.

Modi said the Constitution has now been fully implemented in Jammu and Kashmir and Constitution Day was celebrated there for the first time.

"Our Constitution makers knew that India's aspirations, India's dreams will reach new heights with time. They knew that the needs of independent India and its citizens will change, challenges will change. That is why they did not leave our Constitution as just a mere book of laws. Rather, they made it a living, continuously flowing stream," Modi said.

"Today every citizen of the country has only one goal — to build a developed India," he said at the event.

India is going through a period of transformation and at such an important time, it is the Constitution of India that is "showing us the way and is a guiding light for us", Modi said.

The prime minister cited a host of his government's welfare measures, including the opening of bank accounts for over 53 crore people, homes for over four crore poor families, the scheme to provide cooking gas cylinders to needy women, and health insurance scheme for the poor among others, to highlight the efforts to boost social and equal equality envisaged by the Constitution.

Speaking in a lighter vein, he said he has tried to keep within the boundaries of the job assigned to him by the Constitution.

"I have not tried any encroachment. I have tried to put forward my views within the boundaries. Only a hint is enough here, there is no need to say much," he said in what appeared to be comments made in the context of his speech, which followed the addresses of several speakers, including Supreme Court Bar Association president and opposition MP Kapil Sibal.

Among those who addressed the gathering were Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna, Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal and Bar Council of India chairman Manan Kumar Mishra, a BJP MP who in his speech praised the prime minister and slammed the government’s critics for claiming that its functioning was contrary to the spirit of the Constitution.

Asserting that Indians should get speedy justice, Modi said that for this a new judicial code has been implemented.

"The punishment-based system has now changed to a justice-based system," he said and also referred to the women's reservation law.

He noted that the original edition of the calligraphed Constitution carried pictures of Lord Ram, Sita, Guru Nanak, Buddha and Mahavir among others and said the makers of the guiding document did it to remind citizens of human values.