 The Congress observed 26 January as the Independence Day between 1930 and 1946 . The celebration was marked by meetings where the attendants took the " pledge of independence " . Jawaharlal Nehru described in his autobiography that such meetings were peaceful , solemn , and " without any speeches or <unk> " . Gandhi envisaged that besides the meetings , the day would be spent " ... in doing some constructive work , whether it is spinning , or service of ' <unk> , ' or reunion of Hindus and <unk> , or prohibition work , or even all these together " . Following actual independence in 1947 , the Constitution of India came into effect on and from 26 January 1950 ; since then 26 January is celebrated as Republic Day . 
