Vol. 13 · pages 121–125

88 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES ***** *Pandit Govind Malaviya : Sir, before I say anything else, I should like to offer my cordial congratulations to ourselves and to the Drafting Committee and its versatile Chairman, our friend, Dr. Ambedkar, for the very excellent work which, they have done in giving us this Draft Constitution. If was a difficult problem which they had to face and they have tackled it most excellently. There may be many things in the Draft Constitution which one might have wished to be slightly different, but then that must be so about anything which can be produced anywhere…… ***** †Shri R. Sankar (Travancore) : Sir, I must at the very out set congratulate the framers of the Draft Constitution on the very efficient manner in which they have executed their duty ; and I must particularly congratulate Dr. Ambedkar on the very lucid and able exposition of the principles of the Draft Constitution that he gave us by his brilliant speech. I do not propose to go into the details of the Draft Constitution but will content myself with dealing with one or two aspects of it. I think the most salient features of the Draft Constitution are a very strong Centre and rather weak but homogeneous Units. Dr. Ambedkar made a fervent appeal to the representatives of the States to take up such an attitude as to make it possible for all the States and the provinces to follow the same line, and in course of time to establish homogeneous units of the Federation without any distinction between the States and the provinces…… ***** ‡Shri M. Ananthasayanam Ayyangar (Madras : General) : Sir, objections of fundamental importance have been raised to the Draft Constitution as it has emerged from the Drafting Committee. I agree that there is nothing characteristic in this Constitution reflecting our ancient culture or our traditions. It is true that it is a patch work of some of the old constitutions of the west,—not even some of the modern constitutions of the west,—with a replica of the Government of India Act, 1935. It is true that they have been brought together and put into *CAD, Vol. VII, 8th November 1948, p. 340. †Ibid., 9th November 1948, p. 345. ‡ Ibid., 352.

89CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY DEBATES a whole. Dr. Ambedkar is not responsible for this ; we alone have been responsible for this character of the Constitution. We have not thought that we must imprint upon this a new characteristic which will bring back to our memories our ancient culture. It is more our fault than the fault of Dr. Ambedkar……. ***** *Shri Rohini Kumar Chaudhari (Assam : General) : Sir. I am deeply grateful to you for having given me this opportunity of participating in this debate of momentous importance but before I proceed. I should like lo pay my share of tribute lo the members of the Drafting Committee, its worthy President and above all, our Constitutional Adviser whose services to our poor Province. Assam, in the heyday of his youth are still remembered with affection and gratitude……… ***** †Shri L. Krishnaswami Bharathi (Madras : General) : Mr. VicePresident,…….Dr. Ambedkar deserves the congatulations of this House for the learned and brilliant exposition of the Draft Constitution. No congratulations are due to him for the provisions in the Draft for the simple reason they are not his. Honourable members may remember that most of the clauses in the Draft Constitution were discussed, debated and decided upon in this House. Only a very few matters were left over for incorporation by the Drafting Committee. The House, however, would tender its thanks for his labours in putting them in order……. ***** ‡Shri Vishwambhar Dayal Tripathi (United Provinces : General) : Sir,……To come directly to the subject-matter, it has been a formality with almost all the speakers to congratulate the Members of the Drafting Committee and its Chairman on the labour they have put in and also on the merits of the Constitution. I would not undergo that formality. There is no doubt, of course, that they have put in a good deal of labour and have placed before us a complete picture of a Constitution on the principles that we laid down in this Constituent Assembly. I am also aware that there is a good deal of merit in the draft Constitution. They *CAD. Vol. VII. 8th November 1948, p. 354. †Ibid., p. 365. ‡Ibid., p. 369.

90 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES have no doubt thoroughly studied the constitutions of different countries and have tried to make a choice out of them and to adapt those constitutions to the needs of this country. This is the chief merit of this Draft Constitution. In one word, it is an ‘orthodox’ Constitution……… ***** *Shri S. V. Krishnamurthy Rao (Mysore) : Mr. Vice-President, I thank you for giving me an opportunity to speak on the Draft Constitution. I join the various speakers who have paid a chorus of tribute to the Drafting Committee and its Chairman. Dr. Ambedkar. An attempt has been made in this Draft Constitution to put in the best experience of the various democratic constitutions in the world, both unitary and federal. Of course no Constitution can be perfect and even our Constitution will have to undergo some modifications before it finally emerges from this House…….. ***** †Shri N. Madhava Rau (Orissa States) . : Mr. Vice-President, I had not intended to join in this discussion, but in the course of the debate, several remarks were made not only on the provisions of the Draft Constitution, but on the manner in which the Drafting Committee had done their work. There was criticism made on alleged faults of commission and omission of the Committee. Mr. Alladi Krishnaswami Iyer who spoke yesterday and Mr. Saadulla who will speak on behalf of the Committee a little later have cleared or will clear the misapprehensions on which this criticism is based. I felt that as a member of the Committee who participated in many of its meetings after I had joined the Committee I should also contribute my share in removing these misapprehensions if they exist among any large section of the House. It is true that the Draft Constitution does not provide for all matters, or in just the way, that we would individually have liked. Honourable Members have pointed out for instance, that cow-slaughter is not prohibited according to the Constitution, Fundamental Rights are too profusely qualified, no reference is made to the Father of the Nation the National Flag or the National Anthem. And two of our Honourable friends have rightly observed that there is no mention even of God in the Draft Constitution. We have all our favourite ideas ; but however sound or precious they may be intrinsically in other contexts, they *CAD, Vol. VII. 9th November 1948. p. 382. †Ibid pp. 384-85.

91CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY DEBATES cannot be imported into the Constitution unless they are germane to its purpose and are accepted by the Constituent Assembly. Several speakers have criticised the Draft on the ground that it bears no impress of Gandhian philosophy and that while borrowing some of its provisions from alien sources, including the Government of India Act, 1935, it has not woven into its fabric any of the elements of ancient Indian polity. Would our friends with Gandhian ideas tell us whether they are prepared to follow those ideas to their logical conclusions by dispensing for instance, with armed forces ; by doing away with legislative bodies. whose work, we have been told on good authority, Gandhiji considered a waste of time ; by scrapping our judicial system and substituting for it some simple and informal methods of administering justice ; by insisting that no Government servant or public worker should receive a salary exceeding Rs. 500 per month or whatever was the limit finally fixed ? I know some of the Congress leaders who sincerely believe that all this should and could be done. But we are speaking now of the Constitution as it was settled by the Constituent Assembly on the last occasion……. ***** *Syed Muhammad Saadulla (Assam : Muslim): Mr. Vice President, Sir………The Drafting Committee is not self-existent. It was created by a Resolution of this House in August 1947, if I remember right. I personally was lying seriously ill at the lime and I could not attend that session. But, Sir, I find from the proceedings that as the Drafting Committee has been asked lo frame the Constitution within the four corners of the Objective Resolution, we will be met with the criticisms which we have heard now. Wise men even in those days had anticipated this and to the official Resolution an amendment was moved by the learned Premier of Bombay, Mr. Kher, wherein we are given this direction. I will read from his speech. He moved an amendment to the original Resolution for Constituting this Drafting Committee and there he said—“That the Drafting Committee should be charged with the duties of scrutinising the draft of the text of the Constitution of India prepared by the Constitutional Adviser giving effect to the decisions taken already in the Assembly and including all matters which are ancillary thereto or which have to be provided in such a Constitution *CAD, Vol. VII. 9th November 1948. p . 388.

92 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES and to submit to the Assembly for consideration the text of the draft Constitution as revised by the Committee”……. …….That was the amendment which was accepted by the House. Sir, after this amendment of the Honourable Mr. Kher which was accepted by the House, it does not lie in the mouth of the Members of the Constituent Assembly to say that we have gone far beyond our jurisdiction…….. ***** Mr. Vice-President : Let us proceed with the subject. *Syed Muhammad Saadulla : …….How can I tell Honourable Members that we toiled and moiled that we did our best, that we ransacked all the known Constitutions, ancient and recent from three different continents, lo produce a Draft which has been termed to be nothing but patch-work ? Bui those who are men of art, those who love crafts, know perfectly well that even by patch-work, beautiful patterns, very lovable designs can be created. I may claim that in spite of the deficiencies in our Draft we have tried to bring a complete picture, to give this Honourable House a document as full as possible which may form the basis of discussion in this House. The Drafting Committee never claimed this to be the last word on the Constitution, that its provisions are infallible or that these Articles cannot be changed. The very fact that this Draft has been placed before this august House for final acceptance shows that we are not committed lo one policy or the other. Where we had differed from the recommendations of Committees, or where who had the temerity to change a word here or a word there from the accepted principles of this august House, we have given sufficient indication in foot-notes, so that nothing can be put in surreptitiously there. The attention of the House has been drawn so that their ideas may be focussed on those items in which the Drafting Committee thought that they should deviate from the principles already accepted or from the recommendations of the Committees. [After Mr. Saadulla’s speech, the motion was put to vote as under.—Ed.] Mr. Vice-President : The question is : “That the Constituent Assembly do proceed to take into consideration the Draft Constitution of India settled by the Drafting Committee appointed in pursuance of the resolution of the Assembly dated the 29th day of August. 1947.” The motion was adopted. [The Draft Constitution is appended herewith. Clause by clause discussion of the Draft Constitution followed. Dr. Ambedkar’s piloting of the Constitution may be seen in the next two parts of this Volume.—Ed. ] *CAD, Vol. VII. 9th November 1948, p. 389.