When he addressed the Constituent Assembly one last time on November 26, 1949, before the motion to pass the Constitution as settled by the Assembly was adopted, the president of the Assembly, Dr Rajendra Prasad, said he personally had just “two regrets” – one, that there were no qualifications laid down for legislators, and two, that the Assembly could not produce the draft Constitution in an Indian language.

“It is anomalous that we should insist upon high qualifications for those who administer or help in administering the law but none for those who make it except that they are elected,” Prasad told the House. He, however, expressed satisfaction over the universal adult franchise, saying that as someone with roots in a village, he had full confidence in the wisdom of Indian villagers.

Prasad said the posterity would judge the Constitution of India, but added that while people in power with character and integrity would make even a defective constitution work well, even a good constitution would not be able to benefit a country if those in power lacked these qualities. “After all, a constitution like a machine is a lifeless thing. It acquires life because of the men who control and operate it,” he said.

Prasad shone light on the exercise through which the Constitution was drawn up, giving interesting details even as he thanked members, officials and the entire staff down to the peons for accomplishing it.

He told the Constituent Assembly that in the three years that had passed in its exercise to draft the Constitution, expenses incurred up to November 22, 1949, were Rs 63,96,729.

Prasad said there was a tremendous public enthusiasm for the exercise that would give the Constitution to a nation whose population was more than the entire Europe minus Russia.

The Assembly held its first session on December 9, 1946, attended by 207 members. About 53,000 visitors were since allowed entry to the galleries of the Assembly to witness the making of the Constitution.

Prasad pointed out that the constitutional scheme fully integrated the princely states and that there would not be any differences between the princely states and the provinces that were under the British rule. He said the Assembly brought several princes on board, adding that the efforts made by them along with Sardar Patel ensured that the princely states were merged with the Indian Union within three years.

Making of Constitution

Prasad then summed up the process by which the Constitution had been framed. The first step was to adopt its terms of reference by way of an Objectives Resolution, which was moved by Jawaharlal Nehru. It was this resolution from which the Preamble of the Constitution springs, he noted.

Once the Preamble was in place, Prasad said, “It (the Assembly) proceeded to appoint a number of Committees to deal with different aspects of the constitutional problem… Several of these had as their Chairman either Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru or Sardar Patel to whom thus goes the credit for the fundamentals of our Constitution.”

These Committees, Prasad noted, prepared reports that were then discussed by the Assembly, and “their recommendations were adopted on the basis of which the draft of the Constitution had to be prepared”. B N Rau, a constitutional expert, prepared this draft.

“The Assembly then appointed the Drafting Committee (chaired by B R Ambedkar) which worked on the original draft prepared by B N Rau and produced the draft Constitution which was considered by the Assembly at great length at the second reading stage,” Prasad said.

“As Dr Ambedkar pointed out, there were not less than 7635 amendments of which 2473 amendments were moved… It was not only the members of the Drafting Committee who were giving their close attention to the Constitution, but other members were vigilant and scrutinising the draft in all its details… In the result, the draft Constitution has increased in size, and by the time it has been passed, it has come to have 395 Articles and 8 Schedules, instead of the 243 Articles and 13 Schedules of the original draft of Mr B N Rau,” he added.

Prasad congratulated the members of the Drafting Committee for their devotion and zeal, adding that Ambedkar did a very good job despite his indifferent health.