This 10-minute audio recording captures a segment of the Constituent Assembly’s proceedings on 19 December 1946. The voices of several Assembly members, including Rajendra Prasad (Chairman), Frank Anthony, Jawaharlal Nehru, Kiran Shankar Roy, B.G. Kher, and Syama Prasad Mookherjee can be heard.

This was the Assembly’s 9th sitting and members were primarily focused on finalising the timeline for completing the remaining work of the ongoing session, which most importantly included passing the Objectives Resolution.

 

This audio clip features B.R. Ambedkar’s speech from 17 December 1946 in the Constituent Assembly, shedding light on a tumultuous period in India’s history when the Objectives Resolution was under discussion. His intervention was part of the Assembly’s deliberations on whether it was appropriate to pass the resolution in the absence of the Muslim League.

The majority of the Constituent Assembly members were from the Congress or the Muslim League. However, their differences on the issue of Independent India’s federal structure would ultimately lead to the breakdown of the fragile compromise between the two parties and push the League to demand a separate nation-state. As a result, the League declared an official boycott of the Constituent Assembly on 22 November 1946. In this situation, the Assembly had to consider whether it was justified to pass the Objectives Resolution. By listening to this archival audio clip, you can understand Dr. Ambedkar’s stance on the issue.

This short audio clip dated 17 December 1946, provides a glimpse of an intervention made in the Constituent Assembly Debates by the firebrand socialist, Minocher Rustom Masani. In this clip, Masani is heard making a powerful speech in favour of the Objectives Resolution moved by Jawaharlal Nehru.

M.R. Masani, popularly called Minoo Masani, was one of the key socialist members in the Constituent Assembly, elected from Bombay on a Congress ticket. Though he made only a handful of interventions in the Assembly debates, these were notable contributions to the debates and unambiguously projected his socialist positioning.

Listen to this fascinating audio recording of Jaipal Singh Munda’s 11 December 1946 speech in the Constituent Assembly, congratulating Rajendra Prasad on his election as the Permanent Chairman of the Assembly.

Singh was a revolutionary political figure, an unrivalled orator and one of the few tribal members in the Assembly. Here, he is heard congratulating Rajendra Prasad on behalf of the tribal community of chotanagpur and using the occasion to highlight the hopes of the community in India.

 

This archival audio recording from the midnight of 15 August 1947 documents Hansa Jivraj Mehta’s speech while presenting the National Flag to the country on behalf of the women of India. Mehta was one among the 15 women members of the Constituent Assembly and often a strong voice on issues affecting women.

The ceremonial presentation of the Flag took place on the on the momentous occasion of India’s first Independence Day. It followed the pledge taking of the Constituent Assembly led by its Chairman, Rajendra Prasad and the formal declaration about the Assembly’s assumption of power over the country’s governance .

This 10 minute audio clip from 11 December 1946 has Constituent Assembly Member, Sarojini Naidu congratulating Rajendra Prasad on his election as the Permanent Chairman of the Constituent Assembly. Her speech followed a series of congratulatory wishes from other Constituent Assembly Members.