Chetan Ashwani Prabhakar
The first non-official attempt at drafting a constitution with a parliamentary system of Government for India was in the year 1895 under the inspiration of Lokmanya Bal Gangadhar Tilak. In a brief preface to what he characterised as a ‘Home Rule Bill’, Lokmanya Bal Gangadhar Tilak set out the framework of a constitution which he wished India to get from British Government. It was called ‘Constitution of India Act’ and it provided for a Parliament of India, i.e., ‘an assembly of representatives, official as well as non-official, of the Indian nation’ wherein ‘every citizen may express his thoughts by words or writings and publish them in print without liability or censure except being answerable for abuses that may be committed in the exercise of this right, and wherein noone shall be sentenced except by a competent authority’ and wherein ‘the law shall be equal to all’. It also provided for electing members of the local legislative council. However, all this remained in the realm of wishful expectation.

Constitution Day

In the year 1920, when the Britain had a Labour Party Government, India’s political leaders, under the inspiration of Tej Bahadur Sapru sent to London a comprehensive draft bill for self-government. A bill to constitute within the British Empire a Commonwealth of India. The Common wealth of India Bill, 1925 got introduced in Britain’s Parliament, and it provided that ‘there shall be a Parliament which shall consist of the Viceroy as the King’s representative, Senate, and a Legislative Assembly’. It also included a clause conferring on citizens fundamental rights: of personal liberty, of security, of property, of freedom of expression, of conscience, of equality before the law, of equality between sexes, and of free elementary education. The bill also stated that every literate citizen-literate in the language of the Taluka, over 21 years of age and owning some property or having some income, has to vote. After the bill passed its first reading in the House of Commons, it was ordered to be printed, in anticipation of it being enacted into law. But soon after, the Labour Party lost its majority in the House of Commons, due to which Indian aspirations suffered a setback for several years.
In the year 1928, the then Conservation Party Government in Britain appointed a Commission headed by John Simon, to report on ‘Indias progress towards constitutional reforms. This Commission was called ‘all male, all white’ commission as no Indian had been included in the Commission. In its report, the Simon Commission omitted to endorse the general demand in India for setting out of fundamental rights in the Constitution Act.
In the year 1930, there followed three Round Table Conferences in London attended by representatives of all major interests. Dr. B.R. Ambedkar also attended. The proposals made in the conferences were outlined by the British Government in a White Paper as Proposals for Constitutional Reforms. Whilst not envisaging ‘self-government’, the white paper mentioned one more stage in what the Britishers were pleased to call ‘constitutional progress’.
In the year 1935, Britain Parliament replaced the Act of 1919 with the Government of India Act, 1935. For the first time, the Act of 1935 made provision for ‘responsible government’ (responsible to Indians in India only at the provisional level, not at the national level). The Act inter-alia provided for ‘The Federation of India’, uniting the governors provinces in British India with princely states. The Rulers of each of the princely states were free to accede to the Federation of India by executing an Instrument of Accession.
The Indian National Conference and Muslim League have been critical of the 1935 Act for not meeting the expectations of the people of India. Pandit Nehru has called it as ‘a charter of slavery’and ‘an attempt to perpetuate the political and economic bondage of India’.
In the 1940s, several non-official attempts were made at drafting constitutional proposals but they were ignored by the two political parties (the Congress and the Muslim league) principally because they did not ensure a strong centralized body that then appeared necessary to govern a country as vast and disparate as India.
In 1942, Stafford Cripps (then Lord Privy Seal in the UK’s Labour Party Government) headed a British Government Mission to India, and when in India, he made it clear that the Indian should write their own constitution. Thereafter, the Labour Party Government announced fresh elections in India in order that the freshly elected provincial legislatures could act as electoral bodies for India Constituent Assembly.
In July 1946, members of the then newly elected provincial assemblies proceeded to elect delegates to India’s Constituent Assembly. The Assembly was partly elected and partly nominated. The provincial Assemblies of British India elected members after the 1946 elections, and princely states nominated members.
Before the first meeting of India’s Constituent Assembly, economist Ram Narayan had already written a book which he proudly called: the Gandhian Constitution for free India. It introduces for the first time the complete draft of an indigenous ‘Indian Constitution’ with decentralised legislative, executive, and judicial bodies based on village panchayat. It also laid down a set of fundamental duties to go along with fundamental rights. Gandhiji endorsed this book by contributing a foreword to the book. Justice Louis Brandeis, who served on the Supreme Court of United States believed that an Ideal Constitution is one that expresses the will of the people, to be ascertained by living with the people. Gandhiji wanted this kind of Constitution for India which should express the will of the people of India. It is worthwhile to mention here that the format of British Parliament’s Government of India Act, 1935, which provided for, Federation of India, was adopted for free India’s Constitution of 1950.
The first meeting of the Constituent Assembly was held on 9 December1946, chaired by Sachidanand Sinha. The First Session was held on 11 December 1946, where Dr. Rajinder Prasad was elected as President. On 13 December 1946, Pandit Nehru moved Objectives Resolution, which established the broad principles for the constitution. The resolution declared India as an Independent Republic and outlined the goals for the constitution. The Constituent Assembly adopted the resolution on 22 January 1947. The Preamble of the Constitution is based on the Objective Resolution. The Assembly established a drafting Committee under the leadership of Dr.B.R. Ambedkar on 29 August 1947. By October 1947, Constitutional Advisor, B.N. Rau, had prepared the first draft of India’s Constitution, and after intense debates, deliberations and discussions in the Constituent Assembly, the longest written Constitution in the world was ultimately finalized on 26 November 1949.
(The author is an Advocate of Supreme Court and J&K&L High Court)

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