I know the difficulties which I shall have to face in the discharge of the heavy responsibilities which I have undertaken on your behest. I know the work of the Constituent Assembly is beset with various kinds of obstacles, but I know too that in the discharge of my duties, I can count upon your unstinted support and the same kind of generosity which you have exhibited in electing me to this high honour. Our Constituent Assembly is meeting in difficult circumstances. We see signs of strife in many places in this unfortunate land. But other countries too, when they elected their constituent assemblies and asked them to frame a constitution for them, were faced with similar difficulties. We can take comfort in the fact that in spite of those difficulties, in spite of the differences in view-points which exhibited themselves with vigour, sometimes with trouble and turmoil, the assemblies were able, in spite of them, to frame constitutions which were acceptable to the people at large and which have become in course of time an invaluable heritage for the people in those lands. There is no reason why we also should not succeed similarly. All that we need is honesty of purpose, firmness of determination, a desire to understand each others view-point, that we shall do justice, that we shall behave as fairly, as squarely as possible towards everyone else–and with that determination, with that resolve, I cannot see why we should not be able to overcome the obstacles in our way. I am aware that this Constituent Assembly has been born with certain limitations placed on it from its very birth. We may not forget, disregard or ignore those limitations, in the course of our proceedings and in arriving at our decisions. But I know too that in spite of those limitations the Assembly is a self-governing, self-determining independent body with the proceedings of which no outside authority can interfere, and the decisions of which no one else outside it can upset or alter or modify. Indeed it is in the power of this Constituent Assembly to get rid of and to demolish the limitations which have been attached to it at its birth and I hope you, Ladies and Gentlemen, who have come here for framing a constitution for an independent and free India, will be able to get rid of those limitations and to place before the world a model of a constitution that will satisfy all our people all groups, all communities, all religions inhabiting this vast land, and which will ensure to everyone freedom of action, freedom of thought, freedom of belief and freedom of worship, which will guarantee to everyone opportunities for rising to his highest, and which will guarantee to everyone freedom in all respects.
