3 The Constituent Assembly of India: Socio-economic Composition, Ideological Moorings and Vision

Mr Gopal Krishan

Introduction

In every country of the world where Constitution has been framed it has been done by some constituent assembly and similarly the constitution of India was framed by a constituent assembly. The demand for the creation of Constituent Assembly was made in 1934 by the Congress for the first time in the history of Indian Freedom Movement. It was reiterated in various consequent sessions. The Faizpur session of 1936 made a bold declaration that “the Congress stands for genuine democratic State in India where political power has been transferred as a whole to the people and government is accountable to the people directly. Such a State can only come into existence through Constituent Assembly having power to determine finally the constitution of the country.” In 1938, Jawahar Lal Nehru formally formulated the demand for the constitution of the Indian Constituent Assembly. Initially the government was not paying due attention towards the creation of the Constituent Assembly, but later on, due to internal pressure from India, the British government conceded to the formation of Constituent Assembly in India. In September 1945, the British Government declared that it was contemplating for the creation of a constituent body in India. The then Viceroy, Lord Wavell, declared that the elections to the Provincial Assemblies would be held in December-January, 1945-46, which in turn would elect the Constituent Assembly. During this phase of the freedom movement, the relations between the Muslim League and the Congress had become tense. The British Government sent the Cabinet Mission in 1946 to set up the Constituent Assembly but this mission could not resolve the difference between the two parties. Then the government came up with a Cabinet Mission Plan according to which India’s demand for the setting up of the Constituent Assembly to draw up her own constitution was finally accepted. Under this plan, a Constituent Assembly was to be formed which was to consist of 381 members representing all the Provinces and the States, on the basis of one member to every million of the population. The task of this Assembly was to frame constitution for whole of the Indian Union.

The makers of the constitution placed many challenges in the Constituent Assembly which emanated from the size and composition of the body, the nature and content of the freedom movement and the intellectual, social and political background of the Indian elites who were also set to give a constitution to the ‘New State’ which was essentially an old society. And perhaps this constituted the main challenge about the problems confronting the Constituent Assembly. No doubt, the nationalist movement consolidated many diverse tendencies in India’s national life, but decision making on India’s institutional strategy was not, however, wholly a product of agreements reached during the movement. The agreements that existed were at a very general level, the deliberation of the Constituent Assembly had to be far more precise.

There were different socio-religious groups at the time of the formulation of the Constituent Assembly. Every socio-religious group wanted to mould the constitution into its own perspective. For instance, the Hindu Mahasabha wanted to make India a Hindu State because the majority of its population is constituted by the Hindus. The Socialist Party, after getting separated from the Congress, wanted socialistic orientation in the Draft Constitution of India. But the dominant Congress party did not have a clear standing. Though Gandhi was a leader, the Congress was never Gandhian. Nehru made it clear when he said that the Party had never considered the Gandhian view of society, much less adopt it.

Thus the formation of the Constituent Assembly was a historic attempt to frame the constitution of India as its formation is the culmination of the freedom struggle. The Constituent Assembly for India met on December 8, 1946. It was not a sovereign body because it was formed by the British government which could also abolish it. But with the passing of the Indian Independence Act, it attained the sovereign character and became able to work independently. It also took the responsibility of a provisional Parliament.

Almost all communities of India were represented in proportion to their population. A Drafting Committee, to study and consider this constitution, was set up under the chairmanship of Dr. B. R. Ambedkar. The constitution was adopted on November 26, 1949 and came into force on January 26, 1950.

Composition and Nature of the Constituent Assembly: According to the Cabinet Mission’s provisions, the Constituent Assembly was to be indirectly elected by a system of proportional representation from the Provincial Legislatures. These Legislatures were themselves elected on a limited franchise, consisting of about 20% to 24 % of adult population. The basic features of the composition of Constituent Assembly are as follows:

(i) Election on popular basis: The Constituent Assembly was elected on democratic basis. Each Province was represented in the Assembly on the basis of its population.

(ii) Abolition of communal electorates: Communal electorates were abolished to the extent that no community, except the Sikhs and the Muslims, was given separate electorate.

(iii) Indigenous base: All the members of Constituent Assembly were Indians. The British Government did not nominate any member to the Constituent Assembly. In this sense, the Assembly was purely Indian and to that extent was free from outside control or interference. Thus this Assembly was sovereign within the framework of the scheme.

(iv) Nomination of members from the Princely States : The nominees of the Princely States were not elected by the people of the States but were nominated by the respective Princes. This made the Assembly less representative. The Constituent Assembly was to have 389 members out of which 296 were to be elected from the British Indian Provinces and 93 were to be the nominated members of various Princely States. Out of the 296 elected members -212 were put in the general category, 4 seats were reserved for Sikhs and the Muslims.

(v) Dominance of the Congress Party: The Constituent Assembly was dominated by the Congress party. Congress secured 58 percent of the total seats in the Provincial Legislatures. In the Constituent Assembly, the INC got 203 seats out of 212 general seats respectively. Thus the Congress represented 69 percent of the total seats of the Constituent Assembly. This percentage rose to 82 percent after partition. Thus the Congress was considered as the largest dominated Party in the Constituent Assembly.

(vi) It represented the diverse ideologies: Indian National Congress was a heterogeneous party before independence because it included the groups belonging to various ideologies. The important groups were the Socialists, the Gandhian and the Rightists. The Socialists were further subdivided into the Marxian and the Democratic groups. Marxian socialists believed in the revolutionary methods for the transformation of the society while the Democratic Socialists were in favour of the evolutionary methods. Both these groups opposed the institution of private property and wanted to establish an egalitarian society. Nehru was a representative of Democratic Socialism. The rightist group supported the interests of the capitalist and landed class. They stood for private ownership of property. Sardar Patel was the leader of the Rightist group. The Gandhian group advocated the promotion of village and small scale industries. It criticized the capitalist mode of production. Thus all these ideologies had a definite impact on the making of the constitution.

(vii) Dominance of the Westernized professional middle class: Most of the members of the Constituent Assembly belonged to an extremely small Westernized middle class which was the outcome of the British education system in India. The members of this class inherited a radical and alien social perspective, based largely on the European experience in the 20th century. Besides, most of the members of the Constituent Assembly were lawyers who endeavored to make the constitution more legalistic.Therefore, it has been rightly said that our constitution suffers from an overdose of legalism.

Working of the Constituent Assembly

The Constituent Assembly had a dominant majority of the Congress. The major leaders of this Party played a vital role in the functioning of the Constituent Assembly. Granville Austin says, this dominating position of the Congress did not make it autocratic in any manner and did not lead towards any suppression of dissent within or outside the party. Congress did not interfere in the election of the members of the Constituent Assembly. In case of the Assembly, it was its major consideration that the minorities should get proper position. Thus with its initiative, the minorities got their due representation.

The presence of the major Congress leaders in the Constituent Assembly did not, in any way, silence the dissent. Discussions were held in a free manner and decisions were taken only after lengthy speeches and discussions. The representatives of the minority communities also got a fare share in the proceedings of the debates of the Constituent Assembly. Granville Austin in his book ‘The Indian Constitution: Cornerstone of a Nation’ says that the decisions in the Constituent Assembly were taken by the principles of consensus and accommodation. But it is difficult to believe that whether decisions could be taken with consensus where major stalwarts of the Congress were present. O. P. Goyal criticizes the basic thesis of Granville Austin. He says, “Even Azad and Prasad were not so strong within the oligarchy, rather Dr. Rajendra Parasad was a Lieutenant of Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel. Thus there was just two-man oligarchy in the Constituent Assembly, viz., Patel and Nehru.” Hence some of the principles represent the ideology of Sardar Patel while some others represent the ideology of Pt. J. L. Nehru. As right to property of the original constitution represents the ideology of Sardar Patel, while Directive Principles of State Policy, mainly a socialist pattern of society, represents the Nehruvian ideology.

The conduct of the working of the Constituent Assembly was held in a unique way. Firstly, it laid down the terms of reference, as in the form of the Objective Resolution which was moved by J. L. Nehru. Later on, Preamble was constituted. General Committees were formed regarding different aspects of the constitutional problems. Most of the committees were headed either by Sardar Patel or by J. L. Nehru. On the reporting of all these committees, a Draft Constitution was proposed by B. N. Rao. The Constituent Assembly then constituted a Drafting Committee with Dr. B. R. Ambedkar as its head. This committee worked on the original draft and produced the draft constitution. The Assembly held together eleven sessions which covered a period of 165 days. Of these, 114 days were spent on the consideration of the Draft Constitution. The constitutional adviser’s text on which the Drafting Committee worked, consisted of 243 Articles and 13 schedules. The Draft Constitution prepared by the Committee consisted of 315 Articles and 8 schedules. At the end of the consideration stage, the number of Articles grew to 386. In its final form, the constitution had 395 Articles and 8 schedules. Thus finally a constitution for free India was prepared. This constitution was adopted on 26th November, 1949 and came into operation on 26th January, 1950. Thus India became a Republic.

Important Committees of the Constituent Assembly and their Chairmen

• Committee on the Rules of Procedure : Rajendra Prasad
• Steering Committee : Rajendra Prasad
• Finance and Staff Committee: Rajendra Prasad
• Credential Committee : Alladi Krishnaswami Ayyar
• House Committee : B. Pattabhi Sitaramayya
• Order of Business Committee: K.M. Munsi
• Ad hoc Committee on the National Flag: Rajendra Prasad
• Committee on the Functions of the Constituent Assembly : G.V. Mavalankar
• States Committee : Jawaharlal Nehru
• Advisory Committee on Fundamental Rights, Minorities and Tribal and Excluded Areas : Vallabhbhai Patel
• Minorities Sub-Committee: H.C. Mookherjee
• Fundamental Rights : Sub-Committee J.B. Kripalani
• North-East Frontier Tribal Areas and Assam Excluded & Partially Excluded Areas Sub- Committee: Gopinath Bardoloi
• Excluded and Partially Excluded Areas (Other than those in Assam) Sub-Committee : A.V. Thakkar
• Union Powers Committee : Jawaharlal Nehru
• Union Constitution Committee : Jawaharlal Nehru
• Drafting Committee: B.R. Ambedkar

Sessions of the Constituent Assembly

There were 11 sessions of the Constituent assembly.

• First Session: 9-23 December, 1946
• Second Session:20-25 January, 1947
• Third Session:28 April – 2 May, 1947
• Fourth Session:14-31 July, 1947
• Fifth Session:14-30 August, 1947
• Sixth Session:27 January, 1948
• Seventh Session:4 November,1948 – 8 January, 1949
• Eighth Session:16 May – 16 June, 1949
• Ninth Session:30 July – 18 September, 1949
• Tenth Session:6-17 October, 1949
• Eleventh Session: 14-26 November, 1949
• The Assembly met once again on 24 January, 1950, when the members appended their signatures to the Constitution of India

References

• Aggarwala, Om Prakash, Cases on the Law of the Constitution of India(1952) (Metropolitan Book Co. Ltd., Delhi).
• Aggarwala, Om Prakash, Fundamental Rights and Constitutional Remedies(1953) (Metropolitan Book Co. Ltd., Delhi).
• Anand, C.L. and .S. Atchuthen Pillai, The Constitution of India(2nd ed. 1966) (Law Book Co., Allahabad).
• Austin, Granville, The Indian Constitution: Cornerstone of a Nation(1972) (Oxford University Press, Bombay).
• Austin, Granville, Working a Democratic Constitution, A History of theIndian Experience (1999) (Oxford University Press, New Delhi).
• Bajpai, S.R., Methods of Social Survey and Research(11th ed. 1984) (Kitab Ghar, Kanpur).
• Basu, Durga Das, Cases on the Constitution of India(1950-1951) (S.C. Sarkar and Sons Pvt. Ltd., Calcutta).
• Basu, Durga Das, Cases on the Constitution of India(Vol. II 1952-54) (S.C. Sarkar and Sons Pvt. Ltd., Calcutta).
• Basu, Durga Das, Commentary on the Constitution of India(7th ed. Vol. D) (M.C. Sarkar & Sons (P) Ltd., Calcutta)