The Making of India’s Constitution
This animated video take us through India’s Constitution making process. It helps us understand that key political, economic and social choices our framers made for our new republic!
Design & Direction – Snigdha Rao, Rituparna Sarkar
Art – Priyankar Gupta
Animation – Janhavi Chaudankar, Avinash Jadhav
Voice- Prerna Chawla
Sound Design- Joseph D’Souza
Transcript
We, the people, having solemnly resolved to constitute India, battled the British for over a century on the streets, and in the courts and assemblies, to realise our collective desire for freedom from colonial authoritarian rule.
This found an early voice in 1895 with the Swaraj Bill, which demanded a dominion state with equality for all and freedom of speech. In 1928, Motilal Nehru’s report went further to call for self-governance and minority rights.
However, both demands fell on deaf ears. So on 26 January 1930, the Indian National Congress declared ‘Poorna Swaraj’, or complete independence, discarding the demand for dominion status.
A year later at its Karachi session in 1931, the INC demanded comprehensive social and economic rights. Sensing imminent change, M.N. Roy proposed a Constitution drafted by a Constituent Assembly of Indians, by Indians and for Indians. The INC embraced this view and after years of relentless negotiations with the British, a Constituent Assembly was created in 1946.
Nearly 300 members representing all shades of political opinion, diverse religions, ethnicity, and from all over India met in the plenary assembly and subcommittees across three years, to draft India’s Constitution. They made deliberate and radical constitutional choices to first — transition India from a colonial authoritarian state to a constitutional democratic republic, with adult franchise and representative legislators and independent courts to maintain the rule of law.
Second — to transform a traditional society built on caste hierarchy and patriarchy into a modern egalitarian society based on every individual’s dignity and fraternal relations between them all.
Third — usher in a multi-religious secular democracy by assuring individual freedom of religion, and keeping the state away from organized religion.
And lastly — to restructure a feudal economy based on concentrated or inherited wealth and large land holdings, by distributing land and other economic resources, and ensuring social and economic welfare.
Finally, this new constitutional republic was born on 26 January 1950. Seven decades later, our constitutional republic needs you to be a Constitution defender to preserve, protect and realise the progressive constitutional dream to build a new India.