Mr. President, Sir, I have risen to support the amendment moved by Dr. Jayakar. I have given the most earnest consideration to the Resolution involved by Pandit Nehru and to the amendment as it has been moved by Dr. Jayakar. I appreciate the solemn character of the main Resolution, and I am not going to support the amendment purely by arguing technical or legal reasons in support of it. I appreciate the fact that the first part of that main Resolution affirms our solemn resolve to proclaim India as an independent Sovereign Republic. That, I realise, is an article of faith with the Congress Party. It represents the supreme objective for which they have fought so long and so arduously. No one could, should, more than that would dare ask them not to reiterate that pledge of theirs on this, the first and the most appropriate occasion. Apart from that, I think it is a pledge which is enshrined in the heart of every Indian. I also appreciate the fact that constitutional precedent shows that assemblies such as ours have at the very first opportunity declared their main and fundamental objective. And ours is to proclaim India as a Sovereign Independent Republic. Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru has asked us, quite rightly, not to read into this word “Republic” any unnecessary bogeys. It is only meant to indicate a constitution in contradistinction to a monarchical form of government. At the same time, he emphasised that it does not preclude units, autonomous units, from joining this Republic and retain- in to themselves a monarchical form of government. The reason why I have supported Dr. Jayakar’s amendment is that, I believe that it fulfils essentially both these things. The amendment respects the Congress pledge. It affirms our solemn resolve to frame constitution for a free and democratic sovereign State. The words used may not be identical. I would prefer the words to have been adopted from the main Resolution, but I believe that from the constitutional point of view, the connotations of these two phrases are virtually identical. Further, Dr. Jalyakar’s amendment meets the second need, to proclaim at this first stage our fundamental objective of framing a constitution for a free and democratic sovereign State. What I believe Dr. Jayakar’s amendment really seeks to do is to ask us to defer a declaration on the remaining parts of that main Resolution. That is, those parts relating to the Indian States, to the powers and functions of the Provinces and to the powers and functions of the Union. That, I believe is the intention of this amendment-to ask us to defer a declaration, however just it may be a declaration which may expose us to the charge, however baseless, that we are prejudging matters of detail which have to be traversed in this Assembly and on which decisions should be made after they have been fully canvassed and discussed here. That is why, Sir, I feel that Dr. Jayakar’s amendment should be supported. It ought to be adopted because it is dictated, if I may say so, with all humility, by considerations of statesmanship, by the desire of every one of us to see the greatest measure of agreement and goodwill between the two major parties and by the desire of every one of us to see this great country of ours embracing, giving strength to and being given strength by those who make up her children.
