While appointing the draftsman of our constitution, we were eager to have the knowledge of the constitutional pandits, and the precision of the constitutional lawyers and we have got them in full measure. Dr. Ambedkar and his associates or his colleagues of the Drafting Committee deserve our gratitude, and I think they could stand comparison to any of the constitution makers and draftsmen of any constitution in any country in the world. But we did not choose to have the wisdom of the statesmen whose main asset is mother wit and commonsense, nor did we choose to fashion our Constitution in the spirit of our Revolution, because none of the makers of this present Constitution can claim to have passed the test of the revolutionary struggle which preceded the year 1946 when the Constituent Assembly met. In fact, the Constitution can hardly be called the “child” of the Indian Revolution. Look at the Constitutions of the world which are the products of revolutions. They have a stamp of their own, by which even a man who runs can read them as the British, the American or the Russian. The Constitution which would rule the Indian people has got every institution which guarantees liberty to man, every principle which promotes progress peace and fraternity, but at the same time we must admit that the Constitution has not made provision for adequate and effective machinery for the implementation of any definite principle of progress inspiring our Revolution. But I know this is no fault of any single individual. Though we say that we have made a Revolution and we have come to power on the crest of a non-violent Revolution led by Mahatma Gandhi, still we must admit that the principles on which that Revolution was based have not gone deep into the body politic or in the Indian society. We followed Mahatma Gandhi. We did what he asked us to do, because he promised us that he would give us independence. But we must admit that, though we followed him, we did not accept his entire conception of life. It was a political Revolution which has given us power—political—which we have tried to embody in this Constitution. But as far as social or economic conceptions of Mahatma Gandhi’s ideology of life are concerned, we must admit that we have to travel for before we can say that we are anything near to them. How often has our Prime Minister, in his American tour, emphasized that the world is looking to India with an expectant eye, and that expectancy is for finding a way out of the present crisis that the world is facing. We must regretfully admit that there is very little in our Constitution which they can feel as something new, which if they copy will enable them to tide over the present crisis. We have drawn very liberally from the Constitutions of different countries like America, England, Australia, Canada, Ireland, Germany and so on. But there is very little that is in our Constitution which they can, in their turn, accept. Mr. President, Sir, it has been a one-way traffic practically. I am afraid, but as I said, it is no fault of any individual. If it is a fault, it is the fault of us all, because we have not faithfully followed our Master. I would not say that we have consciously tried to betray or deceive him. It was our shortcoming, it was our weakness that has disabled us from accepting what he gave us as the philosophy of a non-violent, peaceful life.
