*[Mr. President, a large number of my honourable Friends have expressed different views regarding the very Constitution which they have themselves framed. This has confused me and has also given me pleasure. So far as I am concerned, I foresee the basis of revolution in this Constitution. After years of political struggle and unparalleled sacrifices, India attained independence and the Constituent Assembly of free India was constituted. A wave of enthusiasm overtook India. But the people of the States only looked towards this great Assembly with hopes in their eyes. As the time marched, the map of India’s beautiful future became clearer to Indian people. The States subjects got rid of the despotic rule. Small States were dissolved and went into Unions. In a big country like India they were given equal share. The Indian people were given the right to constitute their own government by their own votes. In truth it can be said that for the future the reins of the Government have been entrusted to the Indian people. It appears to me that in the history of this ancient country this is the first revolution of its kind when power has been snatched from the hands of Rajas, Maharajas and their courtiers and has been placed in the hands of the people and when rulers’ birth right to rule has been nullified. Now it is the duty of the people to consolidate this change and to infuse life by their good actions in this Constitution which is based on beautiful ideas. I am aware of the responsibilities of the people and their leaders. Our countrymen are innocent and illiterate. Different people and different bodies will play with their sentiments by their own tactics. But its duration will be short. I am fear-stricken. With the enforcement of this Constitution the ignored people of the country will raise their heads with the help of natural force and will acquire the rights of which they were deprived for centuries together and that great revolution which lies implicit in the Constitution and looks like a dream, will reveal itself in its true colour. That map which our beloved leader (Respected Gandhiji) kept in mind while engaged in the political struggle will be in its prime of youth. And those very stories which we have been hearing and reading of our country’s knowledge, civilization, culture, wealth and prosperity will become a reality and will give to the world the message of happiness, love and beauty. In the Constitution, reference has been made regarding the Harijans. Whenever we debated on this subject in this House and whenever its necessity was felt, I hanged my head with shame. I would like to say that those who called themselves of higher castes have perpetrated brutalities on this community and by giving them bad names based on the nature of their professions throughout the centuries. I cannot understand how those who have praised India and Indians have done so? That country is very low and mean in which discrimination has been made and is being made between man and man. For centuries together the untouchables and the Harijans of India have been so badly downtrodden that they cannot be compensated even if the reins of Indian Government are handed over to them. In this age of progress a day will dawn when the future generations will read about untouchability and the needs of our forefathers will make them hang their heads in shame. In this connection I would like to say that the centuries old communalism which had dominated the Indian mind in some shape or the other, and everything was measured in accordance with this maxim, so much so that even water was given a Hindu as well as a Muslim name. This ancient land was partitioned and two years ago Hindus, Sikhs and Muslims became the victims of this communalism and the creation of God was sacrificed at its alter. By putting an end to this communalism once for all, politics and religion have been divorced from each other. So far as the Provinces and the Centre are concerned, it has been seen that Centre has been made very strong and powerful. It is but proper that the Central Government of such a big country must be very strong as history shows, whenever the Centre was weak the Governors of the Provinces rose in rebellion, and unfurled their own flags. I cannot help saying that the Englishmen, for the first time united the country and ushered in a strong Central Government and brought home to every Indian the feeling that he was an India. But we have been bred in such a narrow atmosphere for centuries that even today I feel that we think in terms of provinces and communities and not in terms of India as a whole. I admit that, hand in hand with the Centre all the parts of the country must be strong. Because until and unless all the parts of the body are not strong mentally, physically and spiritually, the body as a whole, can never be strong. But in order to take work from all parts there should be a brain in the centre which should handle all the parts properly and justly and afford opportunities to all for proper development. This should be the shape of our Centre and the Provinces.
