President Droupadi Murmu releases commemorative coin, stamp and books on Constitution Day

Murmu was accompanied by Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi and other union ministers.

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) national president Jagat Prakash Nadda, Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge were among the attendees at the central hall of Old Parliament Building.

The President addressed a joint session of the two houses of Parliament.

The joint session was met with controversy after opposition leaders wrote to Om Birla to allow them to speak at the event.

In their letter to the Lok Sabha Speaker, the opposition leaders had written, "We are writing in the context of the function being held tomorrow (Tuesday) in the Central Hall of Samvidhan Sadan to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the adoption of the Constitution of India.

"We understand that the function will be addressed by the President, Vice President and the Prime Minister. We believe that in the best traditions and interests of Parliamentary democracy, the Leaders of Opposition (LoPs) in both Houses should also be given an opportunity to speak on this historic occasion."

Union Minister Kiren Rijiju responded on behalf of the government and accused "some of the Opposition parties" of reacting without realising the arrangements of a programme.

"The problem with some of the Opposition parties is that without knowing the actual arrangement they start giving reactions. The Prime Minister is not even speaking tomorrow (Tuesday) at the function. The Speaker, the Vice President and the President of India will speak," Rijiju said as quoted by The Indian Express.

"Secondly, we have made sitting arrangements for the Leader of Opposition of both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha on the dais. Without knowing anything, this kind of reaction on a very solemn occasion is condemnable."

The Constitution has remained the point of contention between the Modi government and the primary opposition party Congress in the political domain.

The Congress with its top leader Rahul Gandhi had given a call to vote against the BJP in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections "to save the Constitution".

During the campaign for the recently concluded Maharashtra polls, the Congress came under fire from the BJP for allegedly distributing "blank copies of the Constitution" at Rahul Gandhi's event in Nagpur.

A video posted by the Maharashtra BJP on social media, which quickly went viral, showed books labelled "Constitution of India" with only blank pages inside, except for the preamble on the first page.

The Congress, however, dismissed BJP’s allegation and accused it of spreading lies.