Background

Although the Constitution of India was framed between December 1946 and December 1949, its roots deep lie in the Indian national movement against the colonial rule as well as in the movements for responsible and constitutional government in the princely states.

Mridula Mukherjee, in her work, India Since Independence, has rejected the idea that the British initiated modern, responsible and constitutional government in India and that the 1950 Constitution was merely the culmination of the series of constitutional initiatives made by the British in 1861, 1892, 1909, 1919 and 1935. The fact that British

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concessions, at every stage, fell far short of what nationalists were demanding for.

In the modern sense, there appeared the Constitution of India Bill, also known as the Home Rule Bill in 1895, which envisaged basic human rights such as freedom of expression, equality before the law, right to the inviolability of one’s home, right to property, etc., for all citizens of India. Although, there is no conclusive evidence to prove the authorship of the Home Rule Bill, Annie Besant believed that the Bill was inspired by Tilak.

In 1922, Mahatma Gandhi, in an article titled ‘Independence’ published in Young India, wrote that Swaraj would not be a free gift of the British Parliament but a declaration of India’s full self-expression—the Constitution of India would be framed as per the wishes of the Indians. The Commonwealth of India Bill, which was drafted in

India and to which Annie Besant, Tej Bahadur Sapru, V.S. Srinivasa Shastri made important contributions, was accepted unanimously by the executive committee of the Parliamentary Labour Party. The Bill had its first reading in the House of Commons in December 1925; it was defeated, but it proved crucial as it had the support of very wide sections of Indian opinion, and specified in clear words that “India shall be placed on an equal footing with the self-governing dominions”.

After the Non-Cooperation Movement, Motilal Nehru in February 1924 introduced in the Central Legislative Assembly a resolution that gave due regard to minority rights and interests and came to be known as the National Demand. It was passed by a large majority in the Assembly. For the first time, a demand for a constitution and the procedure for its adoption were expounded in clear terms.

Britain, in response to the National Demand, appointed the all-white Simon Commission in November 1927 to recommend further constitutional changes.

In response to Lord Birkenhead’s challenge, the Nehru Report, submitted on August 1928, was an outline of a draft constitution for India. Most of its features were later incorporated in the Constitution of independent India.

The Report embodied not only the perspective of the contemporary nationalist opinion but also an outline of a draft

constitution for India. The latter was based on the principle of dominion status with full responsible government on the parliamentary pattern. It asserted the principle that sovereignty belongs to the Indian people, laid down a set of fundamental rights and provided for a federal system with maximum autonomy granted to the units but residuary powers vesting in the central government and joint electorates for elections to the federal lower house and the provincial legislatures with reservation of seats for minorities in certain cases for a limited period.

In the aftermath of the Nehru Report, the Simon Commission was boycotted and in December 1929, the Congress declared complete independence as its ultimate goal. The idea that India’s Constitution should be framed via a Constituent Assembly elected for this very purpose and based on widest possible franchise gained support. Although,

M.N. Roy had made such a suggestion earlier, Jawaharlal Nehru was the first national leader to enunciate the idea in 1933.

The Congress took up the demand for a constituent assembly as a part of its official policy in 1934 after refusing the Simon Commission’s recommendations of 1933 as not expressive of the will of the people. Jawaharlal Nehru declared that the Congress had proposed “the Constitution of India must be framed, without outside interference, by a Constituent Assembly elected on the basis of adult franchise”, and, the Working Committee of the Congress reiterated the stand. At the Lucknow session of the Congress in 1936, it was declared that “no constitution imposed by an outside authority and no constitution which curtails the sovereignty of the people” would be acceptable to the Congress.

In July 1937, after the Congress accepted office in a majority of provinces, Nehru pressed the legislators to introduce resolutions in the assemblies rejecting the present constitution and demanding a Constituent Assembly. In August, the CWC accepted a draft resolution prepared under Acharya Kripalani. Between August and October 1937, all the Congress ruled provinces and Sind passed this resolution and demanded repealment of the Government of India Act, 1935. In September 1937 itself, a resolution recommending the

replacement of the 1935 Act by a constitution framed by a constituent assembly was introduced in the Central Legislative Assembly by S. Satyamurti. The same demand was reiterated in the Haripura session of 1938.

The Cripps Proposals of 1942, though rejected by the Congress as unacceptable, had one redeeming feature in that it conceded the request of Indians to frame their own constitution through a constituent assembly.

In September 1945, the newly elected Labour government in England announced that it planned to create a constituent assembly in India. On March 15, 1946, the Cabinet Mission came to India and, in the course of its stay, recommended the forming of (a) the Constituent Assembly, and (b) an interim government.