Guha's 'India after Gandhi' - Ideas of India

'...Democracy in India is only a top-dressing on an Indian soil, which is essentially undemocratic'. B. R. Ambedkar.

This quote probably explains why we did not have an unwritten constitution like the Brits. Indian constitution is said to be 'probably' the longest in the world. It was a monumental task. The proceedings of the constituent assembly was printed in eleven bulky volumes - some of which exceed 1000 pages...


The final shape of the constitution is ascribed to three important congressmen, Nehru, Patel and Rajendra Prasad with Ambedkar, the most crucial member of the assembly and two formidable minds: K.M.Munshi and Alladi Krishnaswami Aiyar. The seventh mentioned is B.N.Rau, constitutional adviser to the governament of India, assisted by S.N. Mukherjee, whose 'ability to put the most intricate proposals in the simplest and clearest legal form can be rarely equalled'.


The process of distilling the desires and ambitions for an 'India' with so many independent and conflicting views is again fascinating. It is clear that the urban literate, brilliant and legal minds finally held sway. Ambedkar is quoted here 'these village republics have been the ruination of India'. One probably can dwell on the 'Gandhian constitution' today to see how it could have given us a better constitution. He writes that K. Hanumanthaiya complained that he wanted 'the music of Veena and Sitar' and not 'the music of an English band'. I wonder what he was really upset about as he was after all a lawyer and capable of dealing with all the finer points of law.

I recall asking my father about how illiterate villagers were dealt with by the courts. I remember him telling me that courts were allowed to use 'Devara Sathya' while examining a witness. (Basically it was a psychological tool and a beleif that a villager would not lie in the courts after taking an oath in the name of the god he believed in.)

I liked the three warnings Ambedkar about the future. 'We must abandon the method of civil disobedience, non-cooperation and satyagraha'. The second warning concerned 'the unthinking submission to charismatic authority'. And he urged Indians not to be content with what he called the 'mere political democracy'.

Obviously very sensible and knowing the way of Indians very optimistic! I remember the highways lined with Ambedkar's statue as I was travelling in Tamil Nadu (I think!).