With experience and wisdom of ages behind us, we have consummated a political experiment which can be traced back to ancient Greece and Rome. It is not for me, Sir, to stand before this House and sing the glory of our achievements. Let us leave it to the judgment of posterity and to the verdict of historians. This is the first instance when heterogeneous interests in a continent State like India have united themselves to form a homogeneous unit in order to lay down rules and regulations that should lead us or guide us in future to live a national life. Like other nations of the world we have peculiar characteristics. We have differences of caste, community and creed, there is the question of untouchability, the emancipation of the Depressed Classes, provisions for the Tribes, for religious and linguistic minorities like Muslims, Sikhs and Christians, their safeguards and protection; then there is the existence of princes and zamindars and the question of their safeguards and protection; then the rights of women-these had to be considered and reconciled and incorporated into the Constitution. It must be said to the credit of the Drafting Committee, with its leadership of erudite scholarship in political science and constitutional law, and thanks to the amendment moved by the Honourable Members that an honest attempt has been made successfully to incorporate these rights into the Constitution. Our Constitution is today ushered into the world with a declaration of Fundamental Rights, which can be traced back to the Magna Carta, the Petition of Rights, and the Bill of Rights – rights which have been secured for humanity by the political philosophers of the 18th century and incorporated into constitutions that have come into existence since then. These rights are also incorporated in our Constitution for all the world to see. Thus freedom of the individual, freedom of opinion, freedom of religion and expression, security of life, liberty and property and pursuit of happiness, have been ensured and secured to every individual in the framework of our Constitution. It is a constitution based on democracy with all the experience and wisdom of ages gone by; only I have to pass a few remarks with regard to the peculiarities of our Constitution.
