Independence Day (India) religious lines into the Dominions of India and Pakistan; the partition was accompanied by violent riots and mass casualties, and the displacement of nearly 15 million people due to religious violence. On 15 August 1947, the first Prime Minister of India, Jawaharlal Nehru raised the Indian national flag above the Lahori Gate of the Red Fort in Delhi. On each subsequent Independence Day, the incumbent Prime Minister customarily raises the flag and gives an address to the nation. Independence Day is observed throughout India with flag-hoisting ceremonies, parades and cultural events. It is a national holiday. European traders had established
Dominion of India Mahatma Gandhi's attempt to reconcile the two nations via a fast led to his assassination in 1948 by Nathuram Godse, further increasing tensions between the two new states. The Dominion of India began working towards a constitution based on liberal democracy immediately after independence. The Constituent Assembly adopted the Constitution of India, drafted by a committee headed by B. R. Ambedkar, on 26 November 1949. India abolished the role of the constitutional monarchy and became a federal, democratic republic after it's constitution came into effect on 26 January 1950; henceforth celebrated as Republic Day. The governmental structure was similar to