Constitution Day, 26th Nov 1949

Making of the Constitution of India – A vision document.

• The Constituent Assembly took 2 years, 11 months and 17 days to prepare the Constitution of India. Constitution of America was prepared in 4 months and that of South Africa in 1 year.
• 296 Representatives including Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar, Jawaharlal Nehru, Rajendraprasad, Vallabhbhai Patel, Alladi krishnaswamy , Nazuruddin Ahmed, Thakurdas Bhargava, Hridaynath Kunzru, Pattabhi Sitaramaya discussed and adopted the Constitution. These were people of intelligence, eminence and learned scholars of Constitutional law. These people were devoid of any partisan motives.
• Total 7635 amendments were tabled while 2473 amendments were actually moved to make changes in the draft Constitution in Constituent Assembly.
• There are 5 volumes of the Constituent Assembly debate each one of more than a thousand pages.
• This proves that the Constitution was made by a very rigorous thought process and a thorough consideration of democratic and constitutional principles.

What has the Constitution given to people of India which never before we relished during Vedic, Puranic, Mughal or British India?

• The Constitution of India gave the below to all Indians –

1.     Total Independence from the British Rule
2. India became a Sovereign, Republic and Democratic country.
3.     Modern vision and commitment of India of ensuring the principles of Equality, Liberty, Fraternity and Justice to each citizen in every walks of  Life.
4.     Affirming to the Fundamental rights – Freedon of speech, Freedom of practice and Propagation of Religion, Right against exploitation etal. –  Part 3 (Articles 12 to 21).
5. Parliament, Judiciary, Executive became the pillars of Democracy under the Constitution as Supreme Law. With Judiciary keeping check on the acts passed by the parliament whether affirming under the ambit of the articles and basic principles of the Constitution.
6.      Ensuring equal rights and safeguards to women unlike during any previous rulings in India.
7.     Idea of glorification of Multi-culturalism under the spirit of National unity and oneness.
8.     Single-citizenship which enables and safegurds individuals from various states to pursue the opportunities in any part of the country.
9.     Right of Writ under Article 226 and 32
10.      Notion of The Rule of Law
11. Principle of One Man, One vote hence One Vote, One value empowering each citizen with equal basic value, eradicating  the previous   monopoly of power through caste order
12.    Right to amend the Constitution under Article 368
13. Federal Structure under normal conditions but Unitary in emergency.

Condemning the Constitution: A Treacherous act and a conspiracy of the Communal forces

• It is a habit in this country to blame and condemn the Constitution of India for every failure in this country. People usually say that since our laws are weak and have so many loopholes that is why the guilty are not brought to justice. This however is quite far from the truth.
• The Law in this country is based on the universally accepted principle of natural justice that even if thousand criminals are set free but the innocent should never be punished.
• If the criminals are not brought to justice it is not because the Law is weak but that the government’s machinery i.e. the CBI, CID, police etc has failed to produce the essential evidences, proofs before the court so as to book the guilty. If sufficient proofs are brought before the judiciary the laws are so strong that there is no way that the guilty can walk free.
• Also, people generally mistake Acts (Laws) like the Indian Penal Code, Civil Procedure Code etc as the Constitution and hence they blame the Constitution. But there is a difference between the Acts made by the Parliament and the Constitution of India.
• Some are ignorant and therefore they blame the Constitution. But some ingenious people are deliberately with full knowledge misleading the ignorant masses trying to inflate their minds with the feeling of hatred and disrespect for the Constitution of India.
• Condemning the Constitution and showing disrespect to it is an act of treachery.
• It is the worst kind of conspiracy of the Communal forces disguised in the Hindutva i.e. Hindu nationality movement. It is a conspiracy to turn India into a Hindu Rashtra and make India lose its secular character and democratic system.

Constitution day recalls its Chief Architect, Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar categorically pointing out that Indians lack this kind of Constitutional morality in the below words:

“Constitutional morality is not a natural sentiment. It has to be cultivated. We must realize that our people (Indians) have yet to learn it. Democracy in India is only a top-dressing on an Indian soil, which is essentially undemocratic.”

Oh Indian! Pledge to save the Basic Structure of the Constitution of India!!! Pledge to diffuse in us the Constitutional Morality!!!

Happy Constitution Day!

Guest post by Sumedh Ukey and Pratik Tembhurne.

Sumedh Ukey has done Mtech from IIT Delhi, LLB from Mumbai university and now pursuing M.A. in political science from Mumbai university. He also conducts classes on Ambedkar writings called ‘India needs Ambedkar’ in Kalyan, East.

Pratik Tembhurne has a B.E in Electronics from Mumbai university. He is currently working for a pvt firm. Politics watcher and constitutionalist.