Governor Banwarilal Purohit hosted an ‘At Home’ Republic Day reception at the Raj Bhavan on Sunday evening.
“Even as we celebrate our Constitution, we must remind ourselves that it is a dynamic, living document of our religion of willing accommodation and harmonious togetherness. This is certainly easy to talk about but not so easy to implement,” Mr. Purohit said while addressing the event.
He said India’s Constitution was created by gleaning the best features from the American, Canadian, British, German, French and Australian Constitutions and laid emphasis on liberty, equality and fraternity through fundamental rights, which formed a part of its basic structure.
The Governor said India, as a nation, had proved to be a land of “wondrous unity, collective sanity coupled with individual dignity”.
Mr. Purohit handed out awards for the floats which scored top marks for the presentations displayed along the Marina beach to mark the Republic Day celebrations.
The Department of Police received the first prize, the Agriculture and Horticulture Department bagged the second prize and the Department of Rural Development and Panchayat Raj won the third prize.
The Governor presented a special award to the police motorbike team ‘Flaming Arrows’ for their acrobatic performance. He also presented Rolling Trophies to Collectors who had excelled in the Armed Forces Flag Day 2018 collections. Mageswari Ravi Kumar, Collector, Tiruvallur district, P. Ponniah, Collector, Kancheepuram district, S. Sivarasu, Collector, Tiruchirapalli district, G. Prakash, Commisssioner, Greater Chennai Corporation, A. Annadurai, Collector, Villupuram district, and M. Elangovan, B.Vsc., Commissioner of Erode City Municipal Corporation received awards for the highest collection for Flag Day.
He also presented awards to students of schools and colleges for their exemplary performance in various cultural events held at the Marina beach as part of the Republic Day celebrations
Just as the event began, the police were seen escorting an invitee wearing a skull cap from the front rows to the back rows. The man told The Hindu that he had gone to the front to greet some of the Ministers, though the seat he had been allotted was in a back row.
