The nation recently celebrated the Samvidhaan Divas or Constitution Day as 72 years ago on November 26, 1949, the talk of the nation was about the adoption of a “New Constitution”. However, the Constitution was then kept to come into force on January 26, 1950 while some of its provisions about citizenship and some other transitional measures were immediately made effective.

This occasion was marked by wide reporting by the Press and hustle and bustle of the obvious celebrations as it was the consequence of three years of hard labour of the Constituent Assembly in general and the Drafting Committee in particular and especially when the circumstances through which the entire governance mechanism was going through was not so conducive for carrying on with such a difficult and strenuous assignment.

Those were indeed tough times as the Constituent Assembly sat as Parliament in the morning and as the Constituent Assembly in the afternoon. The challenges it faced, mainly by the ominous Partition and the herculean task of governing a new post-colonial India, made the task of the Constituent Assembly quite difficult and cumbersome.

A few minutes away from the place where the Constituent Assembly convened was the Purana Qila where the refugees who came as part of the partition process took shelter. So, the text that was destined to be the document to be followed by generations of Indians and that was supposed to govern the generations of Indians for the all times to come was written under circumstances when the nation was in a grind and confusion was prevailing all around.

Not only that, what was going on had an impact on the Members of the Constituent Assembly since some members boycotted it and later left for Pakistan. The strength of the assembly came down from a 296-member body to a 210-member one. However, the courage and statesmanship of the remaining members was unparalleled and was resonated in the words of Drafting Committee Chairman Dr BR Ambedkar as “This is too big a question to be treated as a matter of legal rights. It is not a legal question at all. We should leave aside all legal considerations and make some attempt whereby those who are not prepared to come, will come. Let us make it possible for them to come; that is my appeal.” Some colonial constitutionalists most prominently like Ivor Jennings asked as to why the Constitution of India downplayed communalism since the Partition was the result of communalism.

However, the founding Members of the Constituent Assembly faced this question quite adeptly and with the much-needed courage. And the result of the discussion was an epic one and more inclusive than anyone one would have thought of; and it culminated in a Constitution which begins with — “We the People of India”, wherein we showed our solemn resolution to constitute a nation that would secure liberty of thought, expression, belief, faith and worship and ensure equality of status and opportunity.

As our Constitution turns 72, we are posed with the tough question of ‘how far have we fared in fulfilling our Constitutional aspirations’.  It is also left to be answered how much of social equilibrium have we achieved in face of the historical discrimination on grounds of caste, creed and religion. The Constitutional commitment in this regard has been quite clear as it prohibits discrimination on the grounds of religion, race, caste, sex or place of birth To be precise, the Constitution took due cognisance of the fact of people being historically discriminated and, hence, vulnerable and oppressed both socially and economically, mainly the women, lower castes and minorities.

It has, therefore, become the emancipator and the voice of the historically-persecuted nationalities and it succeeded in securing their continuous allegiance to the Constitution. Almost all of the contemporary Constitutions have failed to survive the wrath of the time and thanks to the Constitutional courts which have kept on expanding the freedoms of citizens.

Notably, Constitutional morality has surpassed all other considerations, be it religious, political or customary, etc., and prevailed over judicial conscience and impacted judicial interpretations of the Constitution, which has been quite elemental in preserving the essence of the Constitution, which is summarily reflected in its Preamble.