India has the longest written Constitution of any sovereign country in the world. Even experts like Dr Subhash Kashyap would say that the Indian Constitution, adopted on November 26, 1949, and made effective from January 26, 1950, was copied down nearly 75% from the Government of India Act, 1935.
The Constituent Assembly first met on December 9, 1946, and was boycotted by the Muslim League of Mohammad Ali Jinnah before Partition. It had 11 sessions and sittings for 165 days, of which 114 days were devoted to consider the draft Constitution. The finalised Constitution had 395 Articles in 22 Parts, 12 Schedules. It has special provisions for various Indian States, including Jammu and Kashmir. The first amendment was brought by the Jawaharlal Nehru government in 1951 for Backward Classes (OBC) reservations and others. The last amendment was brought in September 2016 by the Narendra Modi government for Goods and Services Tax (GST).
Unlike many other neighbouring countries, India is not known for frequently changing the Constitution, though she has effected 101 constitutional amendments. Most of the amendments were made “in the interest of general public” but some time the constitutional amendments were carried out “to safeguard the interest of the person in power” or “to nullify the court judgments” like it was done to impose Emergency in 1975 by the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. Later the Morarji Desai governmentreversed it.
Unfortunately, not many people talk about how secular or religious the Constitution is. The first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru was always considered secular, opposed to orthodox Hindu traditions, a follower of Fabian socialism, unlike other religious leaders of the freedom movement. Even the Deputy Prime Minister Sardar Patel was not known for visiting temples for Darshana, though he got the Somnath Temple rebuilt since it was considered to be the symbol of self-respect of the nation. Even among the 141 members of the Constituent Assembly, there were members both religious as well as atheist, and following various religions.
Not many people know that the original Indian Constitution carries the illustrations of Lord Rama, Lord Krishna, Nataraja (the Lord of dance), etc. by Nandlal Bose. The framers of the Constitution signed three copies of the Constitution on January 24, 1950. The 479-page calligraphic edition of the Constitution, one each was written in English and Hindi, with borders designed following Ajanta caves paintings. The third copy of the Constitution was a printed one. The Indian Constitution carries the paintings of the scenes of the Himalayas, the desert and the Ocean. Some heritage illustrations are also there. Apart from Rama, Lakshmana and Sita, it has Mughal Emperor Akbar, Chatrapati Shivaji, Tipu Sultan, Jhansi Queen Lakshmibai, Guru Govind Singh, Mahatma Gandhi’s Dandi March and Noakhali visit, Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose's and other paintings which make India proud. The calligraphic work was done by Byohar Rammanohar Sinha who put his signature below the Preamble as “Rama” and Nandlal Bose in line-drawings and gold-work as “Nanda”.
The meaning of being “Secular” does not mean anti-religious but following Sarva Dharma Sambhav. The Indian culture accepts equally the believers as well as atheists in Hindu traditions and respects Islam and Christianity as well.
The first person to sign the Constitution was Nehru and last one was President Dr Rajendra Prasad, who signed in Hindi on top of Nehru’s signature. Sardar Patel, Syama Prasad Mookerjee, Jagjivan Ram and Dr B R Ambedkar, the chairman of the Drafting Committee, put their signatures on the second page. The last page carries signatures of Ramnath Goenka, a newspaper tycoon, followed by Feroze Gandhi, Nehru’s son-in-law. The last signature on the tenth page is of Sundar Lall, who wrote the two-volume Bharat men Angareji-Raj.
One would be surprised that there was a move to make Sanskrit, the language of common man’s communication for 1,000 years, the national language. The then Law Minister, Dr Ambedkar, along with many other members, including T T Krishnamachari, Naziruddin Ahmed, Mrs G Durgabai, Mrs Dakshayani Velayudhan, Dr B V Keskar, Deputy Minister for External Affairs, put forward the proposal but most of the North Indian members, including Syama Prasad Mookerjee, Union Industry Minister, insisted for Hindi being the national language. The South Indian members objected to it and opted for English. The rift between Hindi and English has deprived India of a National Language even today!
Some time history takes unexpected turns. Dr Ambedkar who was opposed to the idea of the Constituent Assembly itself was invited to be the Chairman of the Drafting Committee. As Dr Narendra Jadhav states in “Ambedkar: Awakening India’s Social Conscience”, “Dr Ambedkar regarded it as a most dangerous project, which may invoke this country in a Civil War.”
Of course, his warning must be considered seriously: “It is not that India did not know what Democracy is.” Throwing light on the responsibities, Dr Ambedkar says: “By Independence, we have lost the excuse of blaming the British for anything going wrong. If hereafter things go wrong, we will have nobody to blame except ourselves.”
(For the original Constitution of India Web link : https://www.wdl.org/en/item/2672/view/1/1/)
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(The writer is a Socio-political Historian. E-mail: [email protected])
