Indian Constituent Assembly, or we can say, an initiative that made India what it is today, was established between 1947 and 1949 with the goal of creating a Constitution for independent India. Making a constitution for a country is not an easy task. The members of the Constituent Assembly had many challenges in front of them as, at that time, India was going through various changes such as political, social, economic, and cultural. So, drafting the constitution in such circumstances was a great task. The members had intense debates over some controversial topics and importantly, these debates have made our constitution one of the finest living documents in which changes can be incorporated through discussion in future too and we can say that our constitution is the result of these debates only.
It was noted that the text of the constitution was debated for almost 101 days and 36 lakh words were spoken in the assembly with Dr. B.R. Ambedkar received the honour of speaking the most words. On one hand, Part III of the constitution was debated for approximately 16 days and had 14% clause-by-clause discussion and on the other hand, the Directive Principles of State Policy which were in Part IV of the constitution, were discussed for six days. Women were also active participants in the discussion and there were a few topics that were strongly debated and these were- Untouchability, Federalism, Uniform Civil Code, Reservations, Preamble and Death penalty.
DEBATE ON UNTOUCHABILITY:
Untouchability was very much prevalent at that time in Indian society and numerous people were considered to be ‘untouchables’ and were discriminated against in every aspect. Constituent Assembly members wanted to eliminate untouchability from the grassroot level and they advocated the views of notable personalities like Raja Ram Mohan Roy. Also, Dr. B.R. Ambedkar expressed his view on removal of untouchability and he was a strong believer of equality. The Constituent Assembly makers were of the strong opinion that untouchability should be completely eliminated from India and they aspired that India becomes a nation that is devoid of any inequality.
Considering the present scenario, we can say that untouchability has been eliminated from society to a great extent. Now, article 17 of the Indian Constitution abolishes untouchability and says that it is an offence punishable in accordance with the law. The inclusion of this provision in the constitution depicts the importance of the eradication of this evil practice. It is also significant from the point of view of equality as it ensures the dignity and equality of all the citizens who were deprived of these for centuries.
DEBATE ON FEDERALISM:
Federalism was one of the most important issues to be argued on by the constitutional makers as India had already faced the autocratic rule. They wanted India to be a federal country where the power would be divided equally and no government would have an upper hand and everything could be regulated easily. JP Kripalani stressed that India must be a federal state and federalism should be implemented in India. Presently, we see that India is a federal state and powers are equally defined between both governments and each government has constitutional jurisdiction. Federalism maintains the spirit of democracy and also helps to regulate the country’s affairs in a better manner.
DEBATE ON UNIFORM CIVIL CODE:
The Uniform Civil Code which is even now a debatable topic, was a point of concern then too. India being a religiously inclined nation and having so much diversity and so many religions coexisting at the same time, the constitutional makers thought that they had to come up with how to manage religious affairs in India. However, at that time, the country was going through a lot of changes and so it was difficult for the makers to implement or enforce UCC as the public was not ready to accept that their religion won’t run by their beliefs and therefore everyone advocated that each religion should have the liberty to formulate its own rule, but the constitution makers included UCC in the Directive Principles of State Policy and concluded that whenever India would be in a position to implement Uniform Civil Code, the constitution will always welcome this provision.
DEBATE ON RESERVATIONS:
Assembly members thought that reservations were necessary as at those times, certain sections of the society were unable to have equal representation in the society and therefore, they were granted reservations which served them an opportunity to grow and live with dignity in the society.
Reservations nowadays are also guaranteed in every field so that the minority section of the society does not face any discrimination. But there have been constant demands to change the criteria of reservations. Many advocated that reservation should now be guaranteed on an income basis. But so far, there has been no change in reservation criteria.
DEBATE ON PREAMBLE:
The inclusion of the words ‘God’ and ‘Gandhi’ made the Preamble of India debatable as these words, according to some members, were very vital to add, but on the other hand, for other members, these were the words which should not be added as such words make the Preamble inclined towards a certain thing and it would eliminate its neutrality. The word ‘God’ makes the Preamble religiously inclined. Moreover, one member claimed that including the word ‘God’ would amount to ‘faith coercion’ which would be a violation of the fundamental right to Freedom of Religion.
DEBATE ON DEATH PENALTY:
Death penalty which nowadays has also been brought to the notice of court several times that it should be pardoned, so the situation was that constitution makers were confused whether to include the death penalty or not to include it because death penalty directly takes the life of an individual and deprives him of his right to live. Debates on who should have jurisdiction over the death penalty were also taking place. At last, makers took a neutral stand on the death penalty and gave the President the power to pardon it.
The article discussed the important debates that took place during the framing of our constitution and how these debates were carried forward in the assembly. The six important debates include all the necessary points discussed then and the present status of these issues. The Constituent Assembly was a medium that helped in India’s growth. It is the sole reason for developing a constitution that now serves as an example for millions.
