Mr. President,
I rise to extend my limited and qualified support to the motion moved by Dr. Ambedkar.
We, the people of India, have come to the end of a long journey which is
actually the beginning of a longer, a more arduous and a more hazardous
one. Through several decades of struggle, we have reached the goal of freedom.
During those decades, we passed through many changes of fortune and were guided
by great leaders, many of whom are not among us today. True to the Indian
genius, our awakening began with a spiritual renaissance which was
pioneered by spiritual leaders. In the wake of those spiritual leaders
came the political renaissance and the cultural renaissance. Thanks to Providence,120 leaders of those days, leaders
like Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru and Sardar Patel
are still with us to lead us140
to the goal which Mahatma Gandhi had in view. The goal that Mahatma
Gandhi had in view has not been160
reached and to lead India to that goal is the mission of this Assembly and of
the people of India today.
The
whole of India took part in that glorious struggle for freedom. In the
extreme North, leaders of Kashmir took part in that conflict. In the North-West
of India, which unfortunately has been separated from us
today, the Frontier Gandhi was in the forefront of the national
struggle. That part of India is no longer with us, but we hope240 that whatever the differences
between the part that has gone from us and the part that still remains to us,
our relations will become happier day by day, and India and Pakistan
will live on the most cordial280
terms as years roll by.
The
Constitution that has been settled by the Assembly, may be described as
a centralized federation with a facade of parliamentary
democracy. We have drawn up a very elaborate Preamble, but without the invocation
of320 God. To me, it is
sounding like brass and tinkling cymbal. We have proclaimed the immutable
principles of justice, liberty, equality and fraternity in the Preamble but if
we turn inside, if we go through the Constitution, we will find
to our360 chagrin that
these principles have been watered down to a considerable extent. Many of
my friends here tried to improve the Constitution according to their
best lights and some of us did succeed in some degree. God did ultimately find
a place in the Constitution though only in the form of the oath to be
taken by the420 various
dignitaries of State. We tried in our own way to make the
Constitution conform to the Preamble, but I found that the horoscope of
the Drafting Committee was strong.
Now
to go back to the Preamble and the Constitution, I find that so far as
justice is concerned, the Constitution amply provides for those who adorn the
seats of480 justice. They are
better provided for than those who will resort to the Temples of
justice. The Drafting Committee had a soft corner for those eminent dignitaries
who will preside in those Temples of justice and not to the humble
votaries in the temple. As the Constitution was drafted by lawyers, perhaps the
lawyers' bias could not be avoided, and therefore, it is that in the
Constitution the judges have been unduly pampered. Again,
the emergency provisions water down the560
principle embodied in the Preamble regarding individual liberty. They have
fettered individual liberty. Let me make it clear that I am not a
champion of absolute individual liberty. I want individual liberty only insofar
as it does not jeopardize the600
security of the State. With that end in view, I moved several amendments but they
were not accepted. Then as regards equality, we find that there are
some provisions which confer the same equality as we find between a640 cat and a mouse or between a horse and a
donkey. As regards fraternity, I feel that we have shown
fraternal love and regard for the permanent services, especially the higher services
as well as the high dignitaries of State to whom I have already
referred.
The
provisions regarding the integration of States for which the credit goes
entirely to700 Sardar Patel,
and the provisions regarding minorities which are there mainly due to
his efforts, are all very welcome. Then there720 is the provision regarding
property. We have not made it absolutely justiciable. That
is again another good feature of the Constitution. We have guaranteed religious
freedom. This is another important thing. We have settled the language question
satisfactorily. Then, as referred to by me already, there is the
question of the oath. God has been invoked in the oath to be taken by the
dignitaries of the State. Then there is provision for
village panchayats in the directives of800 State policy. Though
at first the villages were stigmatized as sinks of superstition
and ignorance or something like that, it is good that we embodied in the
Directive Principles the salutary provision for village panchayats.
These are all good840 features
and I welcome them wholeheartedly. Then we have abolished titles, which
were actually vulgar distinctions. Untouchability, which
has been a disease in Hindu society, has been abolished. But other features
are there which destroy the harmony and the beauty of the Constitution. As I
said, we are going to have parliamentary democracy in this
country. I hope it will work. Unfortunately, we have several handicaps
in our country. We have a fissiparous social system with
divisions based on caste and sub-caste, creed and religion and notions of superiority
and inferiority and strong antipathies and jealousies which form
an integral part of our psychological set-up. These impede the cultivation
of a democratic outlook, and permeate the very air we breathe. 960 These factors operate sub-consciously rather than
consciously. Again, Sir, of the innumerable points of contact between the
citizen and980 the State, only
a microscopic proportion will fall within the jurisdiction of the
courts, though vastly extended in the Draft Constitution. To my mind, they
do not furnish the complete mechanics of democracy; they do not solve the
problem of taming power. I hope that the democratic spirit of the people
who work the Constitution will be adequate to the task. The Constitution itself
is only dry bones. After all, it is we, the people of India, who will have
to infuse life into these dry bones of the Constitution. I hope it will be
worked in a spirit of co-operation, 1080
in the spirit of making India a great nation, making it great beacon light to
the whole world, under which will gather all the nations of the world to
learn the ancient yet ever new gospel of India, the gospel1120 of peace, harmony and love, bathed in
the refulgent light of a Himalayan dawn. I would like to make a
suggestion about the ceremony we are going to have on the 26th January 1950. I
would suggest that the Republic should be proclaimed not at midnight, but
just before sunrise as is the custom in our Indian tradition. If
we do it just before sunrise, I think it will augur well for the future
of our country.
We
have reached1200 our goal. Yet
we have got to reach a higher goal, and let us address ourselves to that task
and bend our energies to the attainment of that goal, so that in this
ancient land of ours, the common man, the ordinary man, may have his life and
have it more abundantly. It does not matter how many Ministers you1260 have, how many Governors you have or
whom you have as President. These do not matter ultimately. A
Constitution will1280 live or
die insofar as it caters to or hinders the happiness, the life and the liberty
of the ordinary man, the common man. It is in his name that we have
framed this Constitution; it is in his name that we have struggled for freedom,
achieved it and assembled here. Let us work this Constitution in his
name. Let us go ahead in his name under the blessings of the Almighty
and under His guidance, and with the full cooperation of the people of India.
Let us strive to reach the goal envisaged by Mahatma Gandhi and all our
prophets, sages and seers. Let us resolve that we shall not rest till
we have achieved that goal1400
which has animated the whole nation for the last sixty years or more,
and which will continue to inspire us during the difficult days to come.
Mr.
President, the Second Reading of the Draft Constitution has ended and the Third1440 Reading is going on which will also
conclude in three or four days. After that, the inauguration of this
Constitution will be held over till the historic day of the 26th January.
Dr. Ambedkar and his colleagues of the Drafting Committee deserve the
congratulations of the whole House, because they have drafted this
Constitution with great skill and labour. Sir, ordinarily it would be
expected of me that I should have a feeling of satisfaction for the
successful completion of our labours. But Sir, permit me to say that
at this moment when I am speaking on this Constitution in this
House, far from having any sense of satisfaction I am feeling extremely
depressed. This is due to my realization that in spite of the
fact that the British rule ended more than two years ago, the misfortune
of the country and its people is that they have not yet perceived
in the least any improvement in their conditions as1600 a result of this change.
