Yesterday I had the fortune to attend an address by the eminent Adv Dilip Shinde at The VES College of Law Chembur on Drafting of our Constitution. I admit that there were quite a few insights on how the drafting took place which I wish to share in form of points.
1.. As early as 1945 , British after the World war 2 , ( the Labour Party had in its manifesto stated ) had agreed to give freedom to India.
2.. It took close to 2 1/2 years for the Congrees to come to terms with the fact that we cannot have a unified India. Once it got realised, we got Independance on 15 Aug 1947.
3.. The actual draft of the the constitution was done by B N Rau.( who had also drafted the Burmese, now Mynamar, constitution ) .The contituent assembly only discussed and made necessary modification in the same.
4.. It was the British who felt that the committee constitued from the members of the constituent assembly was heavily loaded with uppercaste persons whose credentials though impeccable ,did not represent true India. Agreeing to them , a search resulted in Dr Ambedkar getting the post of Chairmanship.
5.. It is a fact that only a handful of persons who were in the committee,attended it regularly. It was Dr Ambedkar and a few others who vetted the draft prepared by Mr Rau.
6.. It seems that the most debated Article was the one on languages (Art 343 to 347). It appears that the discussion had the attendance of 210 constituent members.
7.. Prior to 1947 ,only people who paid taxes or land revenue were eligeble to vote. Only 20% of the population were eligeble voters to elect the members of the constituent assembly
8.. Mr Rau was not entiltled to be a member of the constituent members drafting committee ,since he was not an elected member.
9.. Since Mr Rau' brother was already a member of the constituent assembly, it was an unwritten ethcal rule that no 2 family members can be given a ticket .
There are many more such insights ,many may already be aware ,but have put down for benefit of others.
