Vol. 13 · pages 1161–1165

as part of the area of the provinces, it does not exclude them—it retains the power of the States to make laws under any of the items contained in List II so as to be applicable to the areas covered by the aerodromes and the areas covered by the ports. What the amendment says is that if the Central Government think that for any particular reason such as for instance sanitation, quarantine, etc., a law is made by the State within whose jurisdiction a particular aerodrome or port is located, then it will be open for the President to say that this particular law of the State shall apply to the aerodrome or to the port subject to this, that or the other notification. Beyond that, there is no invasion on the part of the Centre over the dominion of the States in respect of framing laws relating to entries contained in List II, so far as aerodromes and ports are concerned. I hope my Friend, Mr. Sidhva, will now withdraw his objection. Mr. President : I shall now put amendment No. 450 to the vote. The question is : “That after article 302AA, the following new article be inserted : “302AAA. (1) Notwithstanding anything contained in this Constitution, the President may by public notification direct that as from such date as may be specified in notification— (a) any law made by Parliament or by the Legislature of a State shall not apply to any major port or aerodrome or shall apply thereto subject to such exceptions or modifications as may be specified in the notification, or (b) any existing law shall cease to have effect in any major port or aerodrome except as respects things done or omitted to be done before the said date, or shall in its application to such port or aerodrome have effect subject to such exceptions or modifications as may be specified in the notification. (2) In this article :— (a) ‘major port’ means a port declared to be a major port by or under any law made by Parliament or any existing law and includes all areas for the time being included within the limits of such port ; (b) ‘aerodrome’ means aerodrome as defined for the purposes of the enactments relating to airways, aircraft and air navigation.’ ” The motion was adopted. Article 302AAA was added to the Constitution. ***** *Mr. President : Now I have to put the amendment moved by Mr. Kamath to vote. There is no alternative left to me. The Honourable Dr. B. R. Ambedkar : He may be asked to withdraw it. *CAD, Vol. X, 17th October 1949, p. 442. Special provisions as to major ports and aerodromes 1128 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES

Mr. President : I suggested to him not to move it. It rests with him to withdraw it. Shri H. V. Kamath : I am not withdrawing it. Mr. President : He says he does not withdraw it. The question is : “That in amendment No. 2 of the List of Amendments (Volume I), the following be substituted for the proposed preamble :— “In the name of the God, We, the people of India, having solemnly resolved to constitute India into a Sovereign democratic republic, and to secure to all her citizens Justice, social, economic and political; Liberty of thought, expression, belief, faith and worship ; Equality of status and of opportunity; and to promote among them all; Fraternity, assuring the dignity of the individual and the unity of the nation ; In our Constituent Assembly do hereby adopt, enact give to ourselves the Constitution.’ ” Shri H. V. Kamath : I claim a division. Pandit Govind Malaviya : I also want a division on this question. Maulana Hasrat Mohani : I also want a division on this question. Pandit Govind Malaviya : I want a division because I feel that we are doing an injustice to this country and to its people and I want to know who says what on this matter. The assembly divided by show of lands. Ayes: 41 None; 68 The amendment was nagatived. Honourable Members : Closure, closure. *Mr. President : I take it that closure is accepted. I shall now ask Dr. Ambedkar to reply. The Honourable Dr. B. R. Ambedkar : Mr. President, Sir, the point in the amendment which makes it, or is supposed to make it, different from the Preamble drafted by the Drafting Committee lies in the addition of the words “from whom is derived all power and authority”. The question therefore is whether the Preamble as drafted, conveys any other meaning than what is the general intention of the House, viz, that this Constitution should emanate from the people and should recognise that the sovereignty to make this Constitution vests in the people. I do not think that there is any other matter that is a matter of dispute. My contention is that what is suggested in this amendment is already contained in the draft Preamble. *CAD, Vol. X, 17th October 1949, pp. 454-456. 1129DRAFT CONSTITUTION

Maulana Hasrat Mohani : Then why don’t you accept it ? The Honourable Dr. B. R. Ambedkar : I propose to show now, by a detailed examination; that my contention is true. Sir, this amendment, if one were to analyse it, falls into three distinct parts. There is one part which is declaratory. The second part is descriptive. The third part is objective and obligatory, if I may say so. Now, the declaratory part consists of the following phrase : ‘We the people of India, in our Constituent Assembly, this day, this month…….. do hereby adopt, enact and give to ourselves this Constitution.’ Those Members of the House who are worried as to whether this Preamble does or does not state that this Constitution and the power and authority and sovereignty to make this Constitution vest in the people should separate the other parts of the amendment from the part which I have read out, namely the opening words ‘We the people of India in our Constituent Assembly, this day, do hereby adopt enact and give to ourselves this constitution’ Reading it in that fashion…………* Shri Mahavir Tyagi : Where do the people come in ? It is the Constituent Assembly Members that come in. The Honourable Dr. B. R. Ambedkar : That is a different matter. I am for the moment discussing this narrow point: Does this Constitution say or does this Constitution not say that the Constitution is ordained, adopted and enacted by the people. I think anybody who reads its plain language, not dissociating it from the other parts, namely the descriptive and the objective cannot have any doubt that that is what the Preamble means. Now my Friend Mr. Tyagi said that this Constitution is being passed by a body of people who have been elected on a narrow franchise. It is quite true that it is not a Constituent Assembly in the sense that it includes every adult male and female in this country. But if my Friend Mr. Tyagi wants that this Constitution should not become operative unless it has been referred to the people in the form of a referendum that is quite a different question which has nothing to do with the point which we are debating whether this Constitution should have validity if it was passed by this Constituent Assembly or whether it will have validity only when it is passed on a referendum. That is quite a different matter altogether. It has nothing to do with the point under debate. *Dots indicate interruption. 1130 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES

The point under debate is this : Does this Constitution or does it not acknowledge, recognise and proclaim that it emanates from the people ? I say it does. I would like honourable Members to consider also the Preamble of the Constitution of the United States. I shall read a portion of it. It says : “We the people of the United States”— I am not reading the other parts— “We the people of United States do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.” As most Members know, that Constitution was drafted by a very small body. I forget now the exact details and the number of the States that were represented in that small body which met at Philadelphia to draw up the Constitution. (Honourable Members : There were 13 States). There were 13 States. Therefore, if the representatives of 13 States assembled in a small conference in Philadelphia could pass a Constitution and say that what they did was in the name of the people, on their authority, basing on it their sovereignty. I personally myself, do not understand, unless a man was an obsolute pedant, that a body of people 292 in number, representing this vast continent, in their representative capacity, could not say that they are acting in the name of the people of this country. (‘ Hear, hear’) Maulana Hasrat Mohani : I do not think, it is only a community. The Honourable Dr. B. R. Ambedkar : That is a different matter, Maulana. I cannot deal with that. Therefore, so far as that contention is concerned, I submit that there need be no ground for any kind of fear or apprehension. No person in this House desires that there should be anything in this Constitution which has the remotest semblance of its having been derived from the sovereignty of the British Parliament. Nobody has the slightest desire for that. In fact we wish to delete every vestige of the sovereignty of the British Parliament such as it existed before the operation of this Constitution. There is no difference of opinion between any Member of this House and any Member of the Drafting Committee so far as that is concerned. Some Members, I suppose, have a certain amount of fear or apprehension that, on account of the fact that earlier this year the Constituent Assembly joined in making a declaration that this country will be associated with the British Commonwealth, that association has in some way derogated from the sovereignty of the people. Sir, I do not think that is a right view to take Every indepedent country must have kind of a treaty with some other country. Because one sovereign country makes a treaty with another sovereign country, that country does not become less 1131DRAFT CONSTITUTION

sovereign on that account. (Interruption). I am taking the worst example. I know that some people have that sort of fear. (Interruption). Shrimati Purnima Banerji : May I, sir……… Mr. President : Let Dr. Ambedkar proceed. He has not insinuated anything. The Honourable Dr. B. R. Ambedkar : I say that this Preamble embodies what is the desire of every Member of the House that this Constitution should have its root, its authority, its sovereignty, from the people. That it has. Therefore I am not prepared to accept the amendment. I do not want to say anything about the text of the amendment. Probably the amendment is somewhat worded, if I may say so with all respect in a form which would not fit in the Preamble as we have drafted, and therefore on both these grounds I think there is no justification for altering the language which has been used by the Drafting Committee. [The amendment was negatived. The motion was adopted and The Preamble was added to the Constitution.] ***** Mr. President : We are now coming to the close of this session. Before I actually adjourn the House, there are certain things which have to be settled at this stage. One of the questions which have to be decided is the next session for the Third Reading of the Constitution, and on previous occasions the House gave me permission to call it at any time I thought necessary, and this time also I suppose the House would give me that permission, but I would ask Mr. Satyanarayan Sinha to move a formal resolution to that effect. The Honourable Shri Satyanarayan Sinha : Sir, I move : “That the Assembly do adjourn until such day in November 1949 as the President may fix”. Mr. President : The question is : “That the Assembly do adjourn until such day in November 1949 as the President may fix”. The motion was adopted. Mr. President : I think we have done with all the amendments, of which we had notice, and I need not say anything more about them. Now that we have concluded the second Reading of the Constitution, by virtue of the powers vested in me under Rule 38-R as recently passed by this House, I shall refer the Draft Constitution with the amendments to the Drafting Committee in order to carry out such redraft of the articles, revision of punctuations, revision and completion of the marginal notes, 1132 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES