Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday paid tributes to the members of the Constituent Assembly who helped frame the “sacred” document, and urged the citizens to “work towards building” an India they would be proud of.

Addressing this year’s first edition of his monthly radio broadcast, “Mann Ki Baat”, Modi stressed that this year’s Republic Day is particularly special as it marks the 75th anniversary of the Indian Constitution.

“This year marks 75 years of the Constitution coming into force. I salute all those great personalities of the Constituent Assembly, who gave us our sacred Constitution. During the Constituent Assembly, long deliberations were held on many subjects. Those discussions, the thoughts of the members of the Constituent Assembly, their words, are our great heritage,” he said.

He also played short audio clips of the speeches of some of the members of India’s constituent assembly — Rajendra Prasad, Bhim Rao Ambedkar and Syama Prasad Mookerjee — to highlight the values they promoted.

He said Ambedkar’s speech emphasised on the fact that the Constituent Assembly should be “united, have one opinion and work together for the common good”, while Prasad’s highlighted India’s commitment to humanistic values.

BJP ideologue Mukherjee’s speech expressed hope that, “…we shall go ahead with our work in spite of all difficulties and thereby help to create the great India…”