Opinion: An unparalleled Constitution

As we celebrate the 75th Republic Day, let’s look back on where we stand on social equality introduced by Dr Ambedkar in the Constitution

By KSS Seshan

If India won independence due to a protracted national struggle carried out by millions of our countrymen and women, the framing of our Constitution after winning independence was the noble task carried out by a number of legal luminaries known for their acumen, patriotism, foresight, and above all, commitment to the wellbeing of our country.

---

The framing of the Constitution for India was the culmination of long years of struggle along with the freedom movement. In fact, the constitutional demands of our leaders gave the freedom movement a clear direction coupled with mature political leadership. It is not a coincidence that several of the top-ranking freedom fighters of the time were themselves lawyers and constitutional experts who had a very clear vision of what type of Constitution the country needed once it became independent from British rule.

Special Features

There are several unique features of our Constitution and the foremost is that it is the longest written one in the world. It has 22 parts, 448 Articles and 12 Schedules. Its English version has 1,46,385 words in total. It may be mentioned that the shortest constitution is Monaco’s and it has only 3,814 words. Our Constitution in its original form is hand-written on parchment and has 251 pages. Each page is 22 inches long and 16 inches wide. It weighs 3 kg and 650 gm. It is a living document.

The Constitution is written in both English and Hindi languages. The calligraphy was done by Prem Bihari Narayan Raizada, originally from Dehradun, but settled in Delhi. He was an expert in calligraphy in both Persian and English. He charged no fee for writing the document. His patriotism was such that when Nehru asked him how much fee to be paid, “not a single paisa” was his emphatic answer!

The constitutional demands of our leaders gave the freedom movement a clear direction coupled with mature political leadership

The original Constitution volume contains beautiful paintings on each page done by noted artist Nandalal Bose and a few others from Shantiniketan. The scenes from Ramayana, Mahabharata, the life of Buddha and Indian historical scenes right from Mohenjo-Daro to the days of national movement are depicted on each page. The original Constitution in both English and Hindi, is preserved in Helium-filled cases in the Parliament Library, New Delhi, under heavy security. What we read today in the printed forms of our Constitution are only reproductions of this original book.

When the new Constitution was to be adopted all the members of the Constituent Assembly were to sign one after the other. It took three days for all 283 members (there were also 15 women members) to sign the Constitution and it was done by 26 November 1949. The Constituent Assembly which framed the Constitution first met on 9 December 1946 with Satyendranath Sen as the Protem President and Dr Rajendra Prasad was elected as its regular President.

Dr BR Ambedkar was appointed by the Constituent Assembly on 29 August 1947 as the Chairman of the Drafting Committee to draft our Constitution. It took 2 years, 11 months and 18 days to draft. The Constituent Assembly met altogether for 116 days. Sir BN Rau was appointed as the legal adviser for the drafting Committee and he prepared a rough draft for the drafting committee. Rau visited a number of countries all over Europe, Africa, Latin America and the US, and studied several Constitutions before submitting his draft with notes.

The four lions in our national emblem adopted from the Ashoka Pillar, stand for Power, Courage, Pride and Confidence. Our Constitution has borrowed articles from nearly 10 countries like the US, the UK, the USSR, Ireland, France, the Weimar Republic of Germany, South Africa, Canada and Japan.

Constitutional Luminaries

Our national movement was not a blind struggle against the alien rule surcharged with emotions and mere patriotism. At every stage, the constitutional demands by the leaders were very clear and loud. It was only the British colonial masters who underestimated the constitutional calibre of the leadership of our freedom struggle in evolving a Constitution of our own. A number of British political leaders were proved wrong when they openly expressed their apprehensions on the calibre of Indian leaders to have a viable Constitution of their own.

The idea of a Constituent Assembly to frame the Constitution was proposed as early as in 1934, at a time when freedom for the country was not even in sight by MN Roy, a pioneer of the Communist movement in India. It became an official demand of the Indian National Congress (INC) in 1935 which wanted a Constituent Assembly specifically to frame a Constitution for India. On 15 November 1939, C Rajagopalachari, a seasoned lawyer, also demanded a Constituent Assembly based on an adult franchise. However, the Constituent Assembly came into being under the Cabinet Mission Plan in 1946 after the elections were duly held.

Though several national leaders during the struggle for independence exhibited a mature constitutional mindset, it was the erudite legal expert Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar, who was instrumental in shaping the Constitution and is rightly remembered as the architect of the Constitution. He introduced the concept of social equality in the Constitution. He was made the Chairman of the drafting committee that included legal luminaries like KM Munshi, Muhammad Sadullah, Alladi Kuppuswamy Iyer, Gopalaswami Ayyangar, N Madhava Rao and TT Krishnamachari.

Why 26 January

There is an emotive and historical reason for choosing 26 January in 1950 as Republic Day. After India won independence, the Constitution was drafted and adopted on 26 November 1949 by the Constituent Assembly when Dr Rajendra Prasad, the President of the Constituent Assembly, signed it. Hence Constitution Day is celebrated on 26 November every year. Two months later, on 26 January 1950, the Constitution was put into effect, ushering in the Republic.

It was on 26 January 1930 that the Indian National Congress under the presidentship of Jawaharlal Nehru at its Lahore session declared ‘Poorna Swaraj’ (complete independence) as the goal of the national movement and this gave a great fillip at that time to the struggle for freedom. When the Constitution was to be put in force, 26 January became a natural choice in 1950.

Today, as we celebrate the 75th Republic Day, we pay our tributes to the father of our Constitution, Dr BR Ambedkar and to all those legal experts who worked in tandem with him in making possible a Constitution that is so distinguished for all its unique features, not found in other Constitutions of the world.

(The author is retired Professor of History, University of Hyderabad)