How an august body of men worked out India’s foundational document

November 26, 2024 marks the 75th Constitution Day. The Constituent Assembly came into being in 1946 after the steps taken by the British to work out the modalities for transfer of power. It cost the exchequer around ₹64 lakh to prepare the supreme legal document

November 26, 2024 marks the 75th Constitution Day. The day when the Constituent Assembly, a body representing the then provinces and princely States, concluded its discussions held over a period of two years, 11 months, and 17 days to finalise the foundational document based on which the country had to be governed and adopted the Constitution on November 26, 1949.

Though India attained Independence only on August 15, 1947, this Assembly came into being in 1946 itself, following the steps taken by the British to work out the modalities for transfer of power. It met for the first time on December 9, 1946, when Sachidananda Sinha, the oldest parliamentarian in the country who had served as a member of the Imperial Legislative Council between 1910 and 1920, took charge as the temporary chairman.

Preliminary business

The preliminary business before the Assembly was to elect a permanent president, frame its rules of business, and appoint committees for performance of tasks such as discussing issues of fundamental rights, those related to the Scheduled Castes, and so on. The very next day, the Assembly finalised the procedure for filing nominations and on December 11, 1946, Dr. Rajendra Prasad was elected its president. On the same day, a 15-member Rules Committee was also constituted for framing the rules of business. The Muslim League, led by Muhammad Ali Jinnah, abstained from the debates. Deploring it, Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan said on December 11, 1946: “We take it that it will only be temporary, for their cooperation is absolutely essential for the success of any Constitution which we may lay down.”

On December 13, 1946, Jawaharlal Nehru moved a historic resolution which served as a blueprint for the drafting of the Constitution and became a part of its preamble too. The resolution read: “This Constituent Assembly declares its firm and solemn resolve to proclaim India as an Independent Sovereign Republic and to draw up for her future governance a Constitution.” The resolution, with eight clauses, invited all territories of British India and those outside of it to be a part of the independent sovereign country and guaranteed to all people justice — social, economic and political; equality of status, of opportunity and of freedom of thought, expression, belief, faith, worship, vocation, and association, subject to law and public morality.

Amendments caused discussions

The number of amendments proposed led to lengthy discussions. Srikrishna Sinha from Bihar said: “In my opinion, it is really unfortunate that a resolution of such a sacred nature should be subjected to amendments. I purposely call it sacred.” He went on to state: “Sir, the resolution, if carefully analysed, comes to this. It gives a picture of the vision of future India. That India of the future is to be a democratic and decentralised Republic, in which the ultimate sovereignty is to lie with the people and in which fundamental rights are to be safeguarded to minorities inhabiting this land.”

Syama Prasad Mookerjee from Bengal said: “The resolution has an importance of its own... I hope, Sir, as we are not framing a Constitution now, as we are only laying down a general outline of the things that we want to do in the future, the House will refuse to listen to narrow technicalities.”

The discussions on the resolution could not be wound up before the first session ended on December 23, 1946, because more than 50 members insisted on expressing their views. Though the president suggested conduct of the proceedings during Christmas holidays and even on Sundays, a majority of the members did not agree owing to their preoccupation. The second session was held between January 20 and 25, 1947, when Dr. Prasad took exception to comments made in the British Parliament by Winston Churchill and others on the Constituent Assembly not being representative of all communities. Dr. Prasad said: “Out of a total of 926 members who were to take part in the preliminary session, 210 members attended. These 210 members consisted of 155 Hindus out of a total of 160, 30 Scheduled Caste representatives out of a total of 33, all the five Sikhs, five Indian Christians out of a total of seven, all the five representatives of Backward Tribes, all three Anglo-Indians, all three Parsis, and four Muslims out of 80.”

Every community represented

He went on to state: “The significant absence is of course that of the representatives of the Muslim League — an absence which we all deeply regret. But it is clear from the figures I have quoted that, with the exception of representatives of the Muslim League, every community in India, whatever the party affiliation of the persons representing that community, was represented in the Assembly; and, therefore, to describe the Assembly as representing ‘Only one major community in India’ or as ‘a body of Hindus’ or as a ‘meeting of Caste Hindus’ is a complete travesty of facts.” Thereafter, the Assembly continued its discussions on the resolution moved by Nehru. Speaking in favour of it, S. Nagappa from Madras said: “This is a resolution, Sir, that gives wide scope for all the communities and classes of this country... I must say, Sir, that equal opportunity means, one day or other, even a Harijan should be the Premier of India.”

The resolution was passed on January 23, 1947, with some of the members withdrawing their proposed amendments. Then, Nehru replied: “The first task of this Assembly is to free India through a new Constitution to feed the starving people and clothe the naked masses and to give every Indian fullest opportunity to develop himself according to his capacity. This is certainly a great task.” When the third session took place between April 28 and May 2, 1947, Dr. Prasad told the Assembly that the British government had declared its intention to transfer power to Indians by June 1948. Therefore, he urged the Assembly to proceed with expedition to finalise the Constitution. The fourth session was held between July 14 and July 31, 1947. In the meantime, the British government announced the partition of India on June 3, 1947, and it led to certain changes in the membership of the Assembly.

Drafting panel formed

The fifth session began on the intervening night between August 14 and 15, 1947, when Nehru delivered his famous ‘Tryst with destiny’ speech. On August 29, 1947, the Assembly set up a seven-member drafting committee comprising Alladi Krishnaswami Ayyar, N. Gopalaswami Ayyangar, B.R. Ambedkar, K.M. Munshi, Saiyid Mohamed Saadulla, B.L. Mitter, and D.P. Khaitan. The committee, in turn, elected Dr. Ambedkar as its chairman. Then, B.N. Rau, the Constitutional Adviser to the Assembly, prepared a rough draft of the Constitution for the consideration of the drafting committee. The basic draft consisted of 243 Articles and 13 schedules. However, after it was discussed at length, the first draft consisted of 315 Articles and eight schedules. At the end of the consideration stage, the number of Articles increased to 386 and in its final form, the draft Constitution contained 395 Articles and 8 Schedules. As many as 7,635 amendments to the draft were tabled and 2,473 of them were moved. As for the charge that the Assembly had wasted public money by taking a very long time to finalise the Constitution, Dr. Ambedkar highlighted the time taken by other nations. He said Canada took two years and five months and Australia consumed nine years. “The Constitutions of America, Canada, South Africa and Australia are much smaller than ours. Our Constitution, as I said, contains 395 Articles, while the American has just seven articles, the first four of which are divided into sections which total up to 21, the Canadian has 147, the Australian 128, and the South African 153 sections.”

Speaking on November 25, 1949, he said: “The second thing to be remembered is that the makers of the Constitutions of America, Canada, Australia and South Africa did not have to face the problem of amendments. They were passed as moved. On the other hand, this Constituent Assembly had to deal with as many as 2,473 amendments. Having regard to these facts, the charge of dilatoriness seems to me quite unfounded.”

Throwing light on the tremendous work done, Dr. Prasad said: “If you consider the population with which this Assembly has had to deal, you will find that it is more than the population of the whole of Europe minus Russia, being 319 millions as against 317 million. The countries of Europe have never been able to join together or coalesce even in a Confederacy, much less under one unitary Government. Here, in spite of the size of the population and the country, we have succeeded in framing a Constitution which covers the whole of it.”

Answering the charge that the Assembly had wasted public money, Dr. Prasad said: “The cost too which the Assembly has had to incur during its three years’ existence is not too high when you take into consideration the factors gone into constituting it. I understand that the expenses up to November 22, 1949 come to ₹63,96,729.” After a threadbare discussion of every sentence, word and punctuation in the 395 Articles, the Assembly adopted the Constitution on November 26, 1949, and it came into force on January 26, 1950, with the goosebump-inducing preamble that begins with the words: “We, the people of India...”

Published - November 24, 2024 10:43 pm IST