Vol. 13 · pages 1206–1210

word that ultimately counts. As time passes there are bound to grow certain conventions which are more akin and near to realities, which are more dynamic in character and I feel, Sir, that ultimately it will be the inherent good sense of the people that will count and not the letter but the spirit which shall prevail, and people here in the country will have equal opportunities of justice in every sphere, the sphere of administration and economic structure of the society. *Kazi Syed Karimuddin (C.P. & Berar : Muslim) : Mr. President, I congratulate the Drafting Committee for the stupendous work they have done and I have also to congratulate Mr. Naziruddin Ahmad for the arduous work he had undertaken for which he did not receive a word of thanks from the Drafting Committee. I particularly thank Dr. Ambedkar and congratulate him for his brilliant advocacy and the task he had undertaken in drafting this Constitution. I know that he had great handicaps and one of the instances of that handicap is the amendment that I had moved regarding the illegal searches—searches of houses and persons—which he had accepted and which was carried by the House and which was defeated after a week’s time after its postponement.... †Shri Shankarrao Deo (Bombay : General): While appointing the draftsmen of our constitution, we were eager to have the knowledge of the constitutional pandits, and the precisions of the constitutional lawyers and we have got them in full measure. Dr. Ambedkar and his associates or his colleagues of the Drafting Committee deserve our gratitude, and I think they could stand comparison to any of the constitution makers and draftsmen of any constitution in any country in the world.... ***** ‡Syed Muhammad Sa’adulla (Assam : muslim) : Sir, It is said that sometimes silence is golden while speech is silvern. In my humble opinion this should have been one of those occasions when silence would have befitted this August Assembly.... ...I cannot stand here today without showing my dual personality, that is being a Member of this August Assembly as well as being a member of the Drafting Committee. To all those friends who have been kind enough to appreciate the hard and dreary labour that members of the Drafting Committee had to undertake throughout the last two years both on behalf of myself as well as on behalf of my colleagues of the Drafting *CAD, Official Report, Vol. X, 21st November 1949, p. 723-724. † Ibid., pp. 730. ‡ Ibid., pp. 732-733. 1173DRAFT CONSTITUTION

Committee I bow my head in grateful thanks. I am not unmindful of conveying our thanks even to those critics who in their superior wisdom had thought fit to criticise the shortcomings of the members of the Drafting Committee. But I am constrained to say that they have looked into this matter from a perspective that is faulty, from an outlook that is wrong and from a focus that is out of alignment. Sir, the Drafting Committee was not a free agency. They were handicapped by various methods and circumstances from the very start. We were only asked to dress the baby and the baby was nothing but the Objectives Resolution which this Constitutent Assembly passed. We were told that the Constitution must conform and remain within the four corners of that Objectives Resolution. Moreover, Sir, whatever we did had to be considered and accepted by this House. How dare any member of the Drafting Committee be so arrogant as to thrust the opinion of seven members against a total number of 308 in this House ? Sir, it is an acknowledged principle of psychology that man is a creature of environments. The Draft Constitution which the members of the Drafting Committee were privileged to place before this House could not evade this universal principle. They had to take the environment and the circumstances prevailing in the country into consideration and many of the provisions which are against the sense of democracy, even of the members of the Drafting Committee, had to be embodied here on account of forces which were superior to that of the Drafting Committee. Sir, I remember that many sections of our Draft Constitution had to be recast as many as seven times. A draft section is prepared according to the best in each of the members of the Drafting Committee. It is scrutinised by the particular Ministerial department of Government. They criticise it and a fresh draft is made to meet their criticism or requirements. Then it is considered by the biggest bloc, the majority party in the House—I refer to the Congress Parliamentary Party, who alone can give the imprimatur of adoption in this House : and sometimes we found that they made their own recommendations which had to be put into the proper legal and constitutional shape by the members of the Drafting Committee. Sir, no human-made constitution or document is perfect and it is a trite saying that the actual always falls short of the ideal. Even though I am a member of the Drafting Committee. I have very great objection to many of the principles that have been embodied in this Constitution. It does not lie in my mouth to criticise individual provisions of the Draft Constitution, 1174 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES

as I am as much responsible as any other member of the Drafting Committee for the incorporation in our Constitution. ***** *Syed Muhammad Sa’adulla (Assam : Muslim) : ...Sir, after two centuries of subjugation and humiliation, we have drafted our own Constitution. The very idea of it is thrilling to my mind; that very thought sends our hearts bumping and racing, but yet we cannot say with our hands on our hearts that we feel jubilation and joy over the present Draft Constitution to that extent. This Constitution which will be passed and come into law within a couple of months is a compromise Constitution. Many honourable Members have said that this is but a transitory Constitution. I do hope, Sir, that future legislators will try to make it as perfrect as possible. The test of the pudding is in the eating. Similarly nobody can say that this Constitution is to be commended or condemned. The working of the Constitution alone will show whether it is a workable Constitution of whether it is unsuited to the necessities of the times and the requirements of our people or to the genius of our nation, but if we work it in the spirit of the Preamble, we must say that we have a Constitution which can be made an ideal Constitution by working it in the proper spirit.... †...Let us all in all humility try to work this Constitution which has been drafted by people who gave their best to it, and if we work it in the spirit of the Preamble, i.e., try to do justice to all, and try to work it in the spirit of equality and fraternity, we can turn even this dreary Constitution into a garden of paradise. ‡Shri H. J. Khandekar (C. P. & Berar : General) : Mr. President, Sir I stand here to support the motion moved by my Friend Honourable Dr. Ambedkar.... ...I congratulate the Drafting Committee for the work that it has done to frame this Constitution. Sir, I also congratulate my Friend, Pandit H. V. Kamath, a devotee of G. G. for taking keen interest in the work of this Constitution-making.... ...Now today, Sir, we are enacting a law of Independent India under the genius of Dr. Ambedkar, the President of the Drafting Committee. If I may do so, Sir, I call this Constitution the Mahar law, because Dr. Ambedkar is a Mahar and now when we inaugurate this Constitution on *CAD, Official Report, Vol. X, 21st November 1949, p.p. 735-736. †Ibid., p. 736. ‡Ibid., p. 736-737. 1175DRAFT CONSTITUTION

the 26th of January 1950 we shall have the law of Manu replaced by the law of Mahar and I hope that unlike the law of Manu under which there was never a prosperity in the country the Mahar law will make India virtually a paradise.... *Mr. Mahboob Ali Baig Sahib (Madras : Muslim) : Mr. President, Sir, it is not mere formal or customary expression of appreciation if I express my deep sense of gratitude to you, for the manner in which you conducted the proceedings which left no ground for complaint and if I also congratulate Dr. Ambedkar for the outstanding ability with which he piloted the Draft Constitution. Some of us who did not belong to the dominant party which decided questions outside the House beforehand, either confirming or modifying the views of the Drafting Committee— and as it were, acted as the final arbiter—such of us who did not belong to this party would have been helpless if you had not come to our rescue and allowed us to have our say in the matter, for which fairness on your part. I heartily thank you. Dr. Ambedkar was unique in his clarity of expression and thought, and his mastery over the Constitutional problems including those of finance has been marvelous, unique, singular and complete. But, Sir, unlike you, he was not a free agent. So the evils or the defects in the Constitution as it is placed before us today are inherent in the situation in which he was placed and he cannot therefore be personally responsible for them.... ***** †Shri S. M. Ghose (West Bengal : General) : ...I have heard in this Assembly something about Manu which I consider is not a proper understanding of what Manu stands for or what Manu really means. Speaking about Dr. Ambedkar an honourable Memeber was pleased to say that he was not a Manu but a Mahar giving us law. But there is no knowing whether Manu belonged to the Brahmin or to the Mahar caste. But Manu represents a conception of Indian people,—an ideal of law given for humanity. In that sense Dr. Ambedkar was rightly called the Manu of the present age. It is not that anybody who is in charge of making law really makes anything, but he simplifies and codifies the law as seen by rishidrishti, i.e., seen by intuition. In that sense, whether a man comes from Mahar community or Brahmin community or any other community, if he has that intuition, if he could see and codify things not only for *CAD, Official Report, Vol. X, 21st November 1949, p. 742. † Ibid., p. 744. 1176 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES

his community, not as his community views things, but for the whole of humanity, he will be rightly called Manu.... *Shri P. J. Chacko : (United State of Travancore and Cochin): I know that the success of a constitutional experiment depends more on the character of the people and on the conditions of the times than on the provisions contained in the Constitution itself. Hence, granting these defects, I know it is our duty now to make an honest endeavour to successfully work it. Let us believe that the darkness will be over soon and that in the morning to come we will be able to amend the Constitution and to treat all States alike, and to give some powers to the Constituent States also. Knowing its drawbacks let us try to successfully work it. †Sardar Hukam Singh (East Punjab : Sikh) : Mr. President, Sir, I must start with paying my earnest and sincere tribute to our worthy President whose patience, forbearance and sense of justice have guided us throughout these proceedings and have contributed mostly to our successfully, going through all these stages. I join my other friends in congratulating the Drafting Committee and particularly its leader for cheerfully carrying through this heavy strain during these months. It was a gigantic task and they must be feeling relieved after it... ‡Shri S. Nagappa (Madras : General): Mr. President, Sir, very many speakers that spoke before me have congratulated the Drafting Committee and its Chairman. I join them, Sir, I do so. From the point of view of the Scheduled Classes, their point was achieved on the day on which Dr. Ambedkar was elected as Chairman of the Drafting Committee. He had been one of the stoutest champions of the cause of the Scheduled Classes. He was elected as the Chairman. Ever since he was elected, the other members of the Scheduled Classes were very reluctant to co-operate; not because they did not want to co-operate, but because they knew Dr. Ambedkar who was a champion of their cause was there to watch and provide such articles that will be safeguarding the interests of the Scheduled Classes. Well, Sir, this has proved to what heights Dr. Ambedkar, though he is a member of the Scheduled Classes, if an opportunity was given, can rise. He has proved this by his efficiency and the able way in which he has drafted and piloted this Constitution. Now I think this stigma of inefficiency attached to the *CAD, Official Report, Vol. X, 21st November 1949, p. 748. † Ibid., p. 749. ‡ Ibid., p. 754. 1177DRAFT CONSTITUTION