The day celebrating the anniversary of the Indian Constitution and the transition of India from a British Dominion to a Republic was celebrated with much fervour and zeal at Punjab Engineering College (Deemed to be University) on the 26th of January 2020. The event was attended by over 200 students, faculty and staff members. The celebrations began with the unfurling of National flag by Institute's Director, Prof. Dheeraj Sanghi followed by the National anthem and a NCC parade by the cadets belonging to the Army and Navy Batallions of PEC. The NCC Company of PEC for the first time, performed drills involving juggling of rifles in front of the gathered crowd. The music club struck an immediate chord with the audience with their melodious voices and patriotic songs. They even made the audiences join in singing along powerful songs like 'Satyamev Jayate' and 'Salaam India'. To follow was a speech presented by the English Editorial Board of the institute. The literary piece focused on the theme of being a Republic, historical perspective of the same, the meaning of 'Poorna Swaraj' as imagined by our forefathers and the pledge of abiding by the constitution and being united as one. The cultural performances ended with the Dramatics Club and Punjabi Editorial Board students' dancing on the tunes of hit patriotic numbers which made the crowd sway to their rhythm, hum the songs and have goose bumps.
Addressing the gathering, Prof Sanghi shed some light on, 'Why do we celebrate Republic Day', 'Poorna Swaraj's victory over being a dominion' and the fact that we had the most beautiful, articulate and thoughtful Constitution in the world. He talked about how ours was among the first constitution to grant Universal Adult Franchise, Equality to all and Liberty of thought. He even read out the preamble of the constitution to stress how it was still very relevant and what a great job the drafters of the constitution had done. Finally, he stressed on the fact that we would truly be respecting the constitution only when the right to free speech of the students, their right to complain was upheld in our institute. He urged all to look into themselves and talk about PEC before talking about the country.
Everyone gathered for this solemn occasion showed solidarity in remembering the nation's past and celebrating its future.