☰
Framing The Constitution
Read the following excerpts and answer the Questions that follow:
“The British element is gone, but they have left the mischief behind” Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel said:
It is no use saying that we ask for separate electorates, because it is good for us. We have heard it long enough. We have heard it for years, and as a result of this agitation we are now a separate nation... Can you show me one free country where there are separate electorates ? If so, I shall be prepared to accept it. But in this unfortunate country if this separate electorates is going to be persisted in, even after the division of the country, who be tide the country; it is not worth living in. Therefore, I say, it is not for my good alone, it is for your own good that I say it, forget the past. One day, we may be united.. The British element is gone, but they have left the mischief behind. We do not want to perpetuate that mischief. (Hear, hear) When the British introduced this element they had not expected that they will have to go so soon. They wanted it for their easy administration. That is all right. But they have left the legacy behind. Are we to get out of it or not?
(i) Why are we now a separate nation? Explain briefly.
(ii) Explain the remarks made by Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel after the division of the country.
(iii) Why did the demand for separate electorates provoke anger and dismay amongst most nationalists? Explain.
(i) India became an independent nation on 15th August 1947. The foreign rulers i.e. the British element had gone. Now India is a separate and sovereign country. The people of India are its master. They would decide their internal as well as external policies and programmes.
(ii) Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel was a great patriot and nationalist. He refused the demand for separate electorates and provoked his anger and dismay like other crores of nationalists. He declared that it was no use saying that the Indians ask for separate electorates because it was harmful for all Indians—majority as well as for the minority.
Sardar Patel put a challenge in the Constituent Assembly to point out the name of anyone country in the world who was free like India and where there was separate electorates. Patel was not ready to accept separate electorates.
(iii) The demand for separate electorates provoked anger and dismay amongst most nationalists because they used to consider it a great danger for unity, integrity and freedom of India. They knew it very well that the seeds of separate electorates were sown by the British element. Now they had gone. We should reject their mischief and wrong policy of “divide and rule”. All of us should work for unity and harmony of the people and country.
Sponsor Area
What were the arguments in favour of greater power to the provinces?
Why did Mahatma Gandhi think Hindustani should be the national language?
What historical forces shaped the vision of the Constitution?
Discuss the different arguments made in favour of protection of the oppressed groups.
What connection did some of the members of the Constituent Assembly make between the political situation of the time and the need for a strong Centre?
How did the Constituent Assembly seek to resolve the language controversy?
When was the Indian Constitution framed? When was it enforced?
Discuss the significance of the Indian Constitution. Give any two points.
What were the demands of low caste people and linguistic minorities at the time of making the Indian Constitution?
Name any six leaders who played a very important role in the Constituent Assembly.
Sponsor Area
Sponsor Area