Republic Day 2026: Every year on January 26, India celebrates Republic Day with parades, speeches, and patriotic slogans. But beyond the spectacle lies the real power of the day, the Constitution that came into force in 1950 and shapes our everyday lives even 75 years later. When the Constitution was adopted, it gave us six fundamental rights that define how the State must treat its people. These rights decide whether you can speak freely, practice your faith, demand equality, send your child to school, or knock on the doors of the courts when something goes wrong. Yet, in reality, many of them are challenged, diluted, or openly violated sometimes by authorities, sometimes by society itself.
Article 14 guarantees that “the State shall not deny to any person equality before the law,” outlawing discrimination based on religion, race, caste, sex or birthplace, this means everyone should be treated the same at work, in government schools and jobs, and in public life without any bias. However, inequality still plagues India, calls for an anti-caste-discrimination law arose after Rohith Vemula, a Dalit student at the University of Hyderabad, took his life in 2016 amid alleged caste-based harassment. Such cases highlight how social prejudice can violate the equality guaranteed by Article 14. India has also made untouchability a crime and set up quotas to improve equal opportunity, but discrimination in villages and institutions persists.
Article 19 grants citizens freedom of speech and expression, the right to assemble and protest peacefully, to form associations, and to move and reside anywhere in India. These rights shape everyday life: journalists publish news, people protest government policies, and workers form unions. In recent years, however, these freedoms have come under pressure. Human Rights Watch notes that India’s counter-terrorism law (UAPA) has been used to detain peaceful student activists for years, a “crackdown on peaceful protests” that chills free speech and assembly. An Amnesty International report finds that many Indian journalists have been arrested on dubious sedition or terrorism charges for critical reporting, and police have even raided newsrooms. These incidents detaining writers or protesters for expressing dissent clearly infringe Article 19’s guarantees.
Article 23 forbids all forms of forced labor, human trafficking and child labor. This means no one can be legally enslaved or forced to work under exploitative conditions. It is meant to protect the poor and vulnerable from being trafficked or trapped in debt bondage. In reality, however, exploitation persists, Delhi Police reported a 51% jump in child labor rescues in early 2025: 202 children were freed from sweatshops and homes, many lured from impoverished states into garment factories or households. Investigators found these children “forced to work…in private households, bungalows, or small-scale factories, often in exploitative and unhygienic conditions”. In one quoted account, a rescuer noted factory children worked 10–12 hours a day for only 3–5 rupees per garment (Economic Times). These raids underscore that child labor and bonded labor both banned by the Constitution still occur illegally. They remind us that Article 23’s ban on exploitation must be enforced, and that citizens have the right to demand protection.
Article 25 secures “freedom of conscience and the right to freely profess, practice and propagate religion”. Every Indian can worship or not worship as they choose, and even change their faith if they wish. This right is crucial in a multi-religious society. Sadly, it has come under threat. In 2025, Rajasthan passed a strict anti-conversion law imposing harsh penalties up to life imprisonment on “illegal” religious conversions. Christian groups immediately challenged it as unconstitutional, saying it violates Article 25’s guarantee of religious freedom (OpenDoors). At the same time, communal tensions have led to violence: “cow vigilante” mobs have reportedly beaten or even killed Muslim men suspected of slaughtering cattle (The Wire). Such vigilante killings clearly violate the victims’ rights to practice their religion peacefully. These cases show that while the Constitution guarantees freedom of belief, real-life threats from coercive laws to violent mobs can imperil that right.
Articles 29–30 protect the rights of cultural, linguistic, and religious minorities. Every group has the right to preserve its own culture, language or script, and minorities are entitled to set up and run their own educational institutions, a linguistic minority can operate its own schools and teach in its mother tongue if it chooses. These rights keep India’s diverse cultures alive in daily life. Kerala’s 2025 “Malayalam Bill”: Kerala made Malayalam the mandatory first language in schools (classes 1–10) even in border districts with Kannada speakers (Times of India). The neighboring state of Karnataka objected, saying the law disadvantages Kannada-speaking children and breaches minority rights. Karnataka’s leaders framed it as “an attack on linguistic freedom” and noted that Articles 29–30 explicitly protect linguistic minorities. While any state can promote its own language, forcing it at the expense of minority languages violates the Constitution’s cultural rights.
Article 32 is often called the “heart and soul” of the Constitution because it lets citizens go to court when any of the above rights are violated. It guarantees “the right to move the Supreme Court for the enforcement of Fundamental Rights”. Any Indian can file a writ petition or Public Interest Litigation in a high court or the Supreme Court if they believe a fundamental right is being infringed. Article 32 empowers ordinary people from social activists to victims of abuse to seek judicial help. However, access to justice can be slow. By August 2025, about 87,500 cases were pending in India’s Supreme Court, reflecting a huge backlog (iiprd.com) . In one high-profile case, the Supreme Court warned a lower court for keeping 61 judgments “in cold storage” for years, noting that “people require decisions; they are not interested in jurisprudence” (iiprd.com). Such delays highlight that even when the remedy exists on paper, in practice citizens often must wait a long time to enforce their rights.
Each of these six rights allow people to live with dignity, speak out, follow their faith, and seek justice. On this Republic Day by learning about these rights and watching how they are being violated today, we as citizens of India can better protect ourselves and others.
