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us march on, work from peace to peace until peace and prosperity reign supreme in the world. May God bless us. *The Honourable Shri B. G. Kher (Bombay : General) : Mr. President, Sir, I cannot let this occasion pass without expressing my gratification at the completion of a task which, it is very difficult to realise, we began quite three years ago. I remember our first meeting was held on 9th December 1946 and, in these three years were crowded events which would normally have taken possibly three decades for us to accomplish. Our Constitution also has undergone modifications as events outside took place. My first impulse therefore is to congratulate this House on having completed a very difficult, gigantic and monumental task and given a Constitution to free India. Every one will agree that it was a difficult task. Even as the manner in which India attained her independence was unique, so was the Constitution of this very Constituent Assembly. I do not think anywhere else a Constituent Assembly has gone on working as the Constitution making body and as the Parliament of the country for such a long period as nearly three years. After three years labour we have built up a Constitution of which we have every reason to be proud.... †Shri Brabhut Dayal Himat Singka(West Began : General) : ...Sir, a lot will depend on how the Constitution is worked and the person who works it. If you put X in charge of a thing he may do it very successfully but if you place another person, in spite of the fact that he has the same resources available to him, he may make a muddle of the whole thing. A lot will depend on how it works, who works it and the manner in which it is worked. People will always be able to find fault but on the whole it has been a very satisfactory Constitution and if properly worked and supported properly by those who can do it, I think the whole thing should proceed in a satisfactory manner.... ***** ‡Shri H. V. Pataskar : ...In spite of the shortcomings we have made a very good provision in the Constitution, namely, the article by which it can be amended when occasion arises. A constitution is a living growth and I hope in course of time this provision will be made use of by those who come after us and according to changed circumstances change the constitution in any manner they like. @Shri B. A. Mandloi (C. P. & Berar : General) : ...In conclusion, I would be failing in my duty, Sir, if I do not say a word about the Drafting *CAD, Official Report, Vol. XI, 18th November 1949, p. 665. † Ibid., p. 670. ‡ Ibid., p. 674. @Ibid., p. 676. 1168 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES

Committee. It is well known that the Committee had an arduous and very important task. The Members of the Committee under the chairmanship of Dr. Ambedkar did their job willingly and splendidly and presented us with a Draft Constitution. I know that during many controversial debates in this House the Chairman of the Drafting Committee put forward his point of view variably and succeeded in bringing the controversy to a satisfactory conclusion. This House appreciates the services of the Drafting Committee and I congratulate Dr. Ambedkar, Chairman of the Committee for successfully piloting the Constitution of free and independent India. The Constitution has been prepared within a record period of three years,—in fact we should eliminate from these three years the period during which we had troubles of unprevented matters and unsettled conditions. This is a great achievement. Sir, it is not enough to have a good Constitution on paper but it is the willingness of the people, the sincerity of the people and the earnest desire of the people to work it that is important. If the Constitution is worked in that spirit I feel sure that our country will have a bright future. We visualise a bright future for our country and we wish her to be one of the foremost countries in the world. If we work the Constitution in the spirit in which we have made it, I feel sure there is a bright future for the country. With these words I support the motion. ***** *Pandit Thakur Das Bhargava (East Punjab : General) : ...I would like, Sir, on this occasion to thank the other friends also who have helped us in drafting this Constitution. I would like particularly to mention Dr. H. C. Mukerjee who had presided over the proceedings of this House with great ability and tact at the time when you were lying sick and I offer my thanks to him. I do not know, Sir, the terms in which I should thank the Drafting Committee, particularly words fail to convey the gratitude that all of us feel for the legal acumen, the untiring industry, the consummate skill and the firmness, tempered with moderation, with which the Chairman of the Drafting Committee has piloted this Constitution through this House and has solved all the knotty questions arising in connection with it. In view of the great public spirit manifested by him I would appeal to Dr. Ambedkar—I regret he is not in the House today—who has so far considered himself the leader of the Scheduled Castes alone, to join the Congress. He has made for himself a high position in our hearts and I do hope that he shall thereby be able to enter the circle of Congress High *CAD, Official Report, Vol. X, 18th November 1949, pp. 682. 1169DRAFT CONSTITUTION

Command—a position which is much more significant and important than the narrow one he is occupying today.... *...Sir, therefore, I am now going to conclude my observations with the remark that Constitutions are only a piece of paper and they by themselves cannot enable us to achieve our ideals. It is the spirit with which the Constitutions are framed and with which they are worked that enables a nation to achieve the objective underlying its Constitution. Therefore, on this occasion, Sir, when we are going to pass our Constitution, I would like to impress upon the minds of the Members who will be appending their signatures to this document on the 26th of January, 1950, that their task is not over by simply preparing the Constitutions but their real task is ahead. It is for them to work the Constitution in such a manner as may enable the people to have real freedom, happiness and prosperity. Now with your permission, Sir, I would like to refer to only one more matter. It is very dear to me. We have given much to Scheduled Castes. We have provided reservation for them. We have embodied in the Constitution article 335 wherein assurance has been given to them in regard to services; we have provided facility for reservation for them in services under article 16. But I hope we will have not to see the day when the Government reserves posts for them. If we really want to establish here the classless society of Mahatma Gandhi, every one of us who signs the document of the Constitution must do so with the determination rather the pledge, that he must bring the depressed classes at par with him within ten years. He will be false to himself who signs the Constitution but does not work according to its principles.... ***** †Mr. President : We shall now continue the discussion. Mr. Kamath. Shri H.V. Kamath (C. P. & Berar : General) : Mr. President, I rise to extend my limited and qualified support to the motion moved by Dr. Ambedkar. We, Sir, the people of India have come to the end of a long journey which is, however, the beginning of a longer, a more arduous and a more hazardous one. ***** ‡Seth Damodar Swarup (United Provinces : General) : @[Mr. President, the Second Reading of the Draft Constitution has ended and the *CAD, Official Report, Vol. X, 18th November 1949, p. 688. † Ibid., 19th November 1949, p . 689. ‡ Ibid., p. 693. @Translation of Hindustani speech. 1170 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES

Third 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. All this is good and for that the Honourable Dr. Ambedkar and his other colleagues of the Drafting Committee deserve the congratulations of the whole House, because they have drafted this Constitution with great skill and labour.... *Shri T. Prakasam (Madras : General): ...The Constitution is a great document and the friends who have been in charge of this framing of this—Dr. Ambedkar—is a great lawyer, is a very able man. He has shown by the work he has done here, how he would be competent to be a king’s Counsel of Great Britain, to be perhaps competent to sit on the Woolsack only; but this is not a Constitution that we, the people of this country wanted. Mahatma Gandhi when he took up the organization of this country in the name or the Congress at once saw how this country could be helped and how the millions could be helped. Therefore he decided that the whole country should be divided on linguistic basis so that the people of each area would be competent to develop themeslves.... ***** †Prof. Shibban Lal Saksena : ...My criticism of the Constitution does not mean that I am blind to the achievements which we have made during these three years. I consider, this framing of the Constitution has by itself been the greatest single achievement of ours during the last three years. The barriers to the dawn of freedom which the British Government had erected by the artificial creation of the problem of minorities, the problem of Princes in the Indian States and the Heaven-born Civil Service, have all been wiped of as if by magic in the short space of the last 2 years. The delay in the framing of the Constitution has enabled us to incorporate in this Constitution similar provisions for the administration of the 566 Indian States which have now been transformed and integrated into nine provinces and put on a par with the other units of the Union. This single achievement will be regarded as the greatest task ever accomplished in any country.... ***** ‡The Honourable Rev. J. J. M. Nichols Roy (Assam : General) : Mr. President, Sir, I am very glad to come here to give my hearty support to the motion moved by Dr. Ambedkar that the Constitution as settled by *CAD, Official Report, Vol. X, 19th November 1949, p. 697. †Ibid., p. 707. ‡Ibid., p. 708. 1171DRAFT CONSTITUTION

the Assembly be passed. I consider that this Constitution is the best that could be produced in the present circumstances in India and in the world. Though there are defects no doubt, though we would have liked to have had some provisions in another form, yet, Sir, I believe that this is the best that could be done under the present circumstances. I am glad, Sir, that I have had a part in the framing of this Constitution, though it may be in a very small way. The whole country has had a part in the framing of this Constitution either by way of criticism or by way of suggestions. The Draft Constitution was placed before the country over two years ago, and everyone of us had a chance either to criticise or to send suggestions, and everyone of us here in this Constituent Assembly has had a part in the framing of this Constitution. Therefore we can say that this is a Constitution for the whole country and by the whole country.... ...Now, Sir, I want to speak about another thing and that is regarding the Sixth Schedule. I myself am personally indebted to Mr. S. N. Mukerji, the Draftsman, Sir. B. N. Rao and Dr. Ambedkar for giving special attention to the drafting of this Sixth Schedule. I am also indebted to the members of the Drafting Committee who gave us a chance to speak before them.... *Dr. Raghu Vira (C. P. & Berar : General): ...@[It is only foreign ideals that have been incorporated in this Constitution. It has nothing Indian about it. I however, hope that some years hence this Constitution would not remain in the form in which it has been passed, and that it will come to acquire a genuine Indian character, and would fulfil the basic and fundamental requirements of the people of this country.] †The Honourable Shri K. Santhanam (Madras: General): ... looking back, I feel that these three years have not been too long. In fact, it has enabled us to draft a better constitution than it would have been possible if we were able to finish it a year ago. Many criticisms have been made about this Constitution. My honourable Friend Mr. Naziruddin Ahmad has complained about drafting. But reading it as a whole, if we apply the criteria of clarity and precision, I think we have made a very good constitution indeed. ***** ‡Sardar Bhoopender Singh Man (East Punjab : Sikh): ...However, I feel that it is not the lifeless structure of a Constitution or the written *CAD, Official Report, Vol. X, 19th November 1949, p. 715. †Ibid., p. 718. ‡Ibid., 21st November 1949, p. 723. @Translation of Hindustani speech. 1172 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES