He expertly paved the way for jurisprudence

IN recent times, the Constitution Day — November 26 — has grown into a major official celebration, renewing the story of the making of India's Constitution. As we look back at the framing of the Constitution of a new India by the Constituent Assembly, the search for a person who would ably guide the Assembly to write a Constitution acceptable to all was a significant question in 1946 before the Indian National Congress (INC).

The 1946 elections, which formed the basis for Constituent Assembly, were swept by the Congress under Mahatma Gandhi. The predominance of the Congress allowed them to bring in persons of all hues into the Assembly because the members were nominated by the provinces or states. It was similar to today's Rajya Sabha nominations. 

Why Sardar Patel was angry

Sardar Patel, who was the 1946 election in charge of the Congress, was known to have said that not only the doors of the Constituent Assembly but also its windows would be closed for Dr BR  Ambedkar. Ambedkar's party, the Scheduled Castes Federation, lost the elections badly and could not muster enough votes to nominate him to the Assembly. 

Sardar Patel's anger emanated from Ambedkar's hugely popular book published in 1945, What Congress and Gandhi have done to Untouchables, which denounced Gandhi and his party over untouchables. Gandhi wrote letters to K Santhanam of the Hindustan Times and C Rajagopalachari to publish a rebuttal to the book. They promptly did it.

Eventually, with Bengal Scheduled Castes leader Jogendranath Mandal's efforts, Ambedkar entered the Constituent Assembly from Bengal in 1946. Despite the boycott of the Muslim League, the Assembly met on December 9, 1946 and Jawaharlal Nehru moved the Declaration of Objectives on December 13 to create India into an independent sovereign republic. At this juncture, MR Jayakar, a liberal leader, moved an amendment to postpone the declaration till the Muslim League joined. Ambedkar rose to oppose the postponement, silencing his critics.

Even though the Congress dominated the Assembly, none of the members had the constitutional experience, acumen and expertise that Ambedkar had. Sir Tej Bahadur Sapru and Jayakar who wrote the alternative Constitution in 1945 lacked the expanse of Ambedkar's experience and erudition. 

None like Ambedkar

Ambedkar first forayed into Constitution-building in 1919 when he appeared before the Southborough Commission on Franchise. Apart from his doctoral studies in finance and economics, he was a lawyer from Gray's Inn, and Member of the Bombay Legislature since 1926, and Leader of Opposition in 1937. He moved several legislations and became well versed in matters of legislature. As an expert on currency, he gave evidence before the Royal Commission on Indian Currency in 1925. 

The British had made two major attempts to draft India's Constitution. The first was by the Indian Statutory Commission or the Simon Commission of 1928. The Congress opposed it and made a major nationalist movement against the commission. Ambedkar honed his constitutional skills as he assisted the Simon Commission as member of the Bombay Legislature on the framing of the Constitution of the Bombay Province. Ambedkar gave recommendations on the Redistribution of Bombay Province (state); on the creation of the State executive, State legislatures and State autonomy and the Civil Services of a state. He further appeared before Simon Commission seeking electoral representation of untouchables.

The next major exercise of Constitution-making was through the three Round Table Conferences (RTC) held between November 1930 and December 1932 which eventually created The Government of India Act, 1935. The INC again, in the process of national movement, attended only the second conference, that too with Mahatma Gandhi as the lone representative. He was assisted by Sarojini Naidu and Madan Mohan Malaviya. Even though Gandhi, Nehru and Patel were Britain-educated lawyers like Ambedkar, none had any experience in Constitution-making by 1946, though Patel later played a major role in the Constituent Assembly. Ambedkar became a Member of Viceroy's Executive Council and held several portfolios as Minister of the British Indian Cabinet from 1942 to 46. He was a member of the Imperial Legislative Council (British Indian Parliament) and created laws andmade policies and was credited with the creation of today's Reserve Bank of India and envisioned major dams, the "temples of modern India". And he led two political parties — the Independent Labour Party for the 1937 elections and the Scheduled Castes Federation in the 1946 elections.

Ambedkar was one of the few to have attended all three RTCs in London. He was an expert in matters of the federal structure of India and sought a strong Centre; erudite in provincial Constitutions; franchise, where he advocated universal adult franchise (like Nehru). He was on the committee on defence and the Committee of Services and Federal Structure Committee in the RTC. It was in the latter panel in September, 1931, that he lambasted the princely states over integration into a future India, long before Patel. Ambedkar foresaw the necessity of integrating princely states into India. He said most of the states were smaller than even British India districts and the government could not blindly give whatever the princes wanted.

As the eventuality approached on drafting the Constitution in 1946, PM Nehru wrote a letter to Ambedkar, inviting him to join the Cabinet and he was chosen Chairman of the drafting committee to guide the fate of the Indian nation into future. Ambedkar did not belie the expectations and created a masterpiece of a rights-based Constitution for the caste-ridden, patriarchy-driven India, which eventually allowed the jurisprudence to expand rights such as right to life and dignity.

Ambedkar once famously quipped: "The Hindus wanted the Vedas, and they sent for Vyasa who was not a caste Hindu. The Hindus wanted an epic, and they sent for Valmiki, who was an untouchable. The Hindus wanted a Constitution, and they have sent for me."