Thread by @awanishkumar86

In recent years, the Indian Constitution has been criticized primarily on two counts: that it is not "Hindu" enough and that it gives too many "concessions" to minorities.

In the very first reading of draft Indian constitution on November 4, 1948, Babasaheb Ambedkar had

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responded to both criticisms (the exact quotations are longer, I have reproduced the relevant portions here):

"Another criticism against the Draft Constitution is that no part of it represents the ancient polity of India. It is said that the new Constitution should have

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been drafted on the ancient Hindu model of a State and that instead of incorporating Western theories the new Constitution should have been raised and built upon village Panchayats and District Panchayats. There are others who have taken a more extreme view.

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They do not want any Central or Provincial Governments. They just want India to contain so many village Governments. The love of the intellectual Indians for the village community is of course infinite if not pathetic (laughter)....

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What is the village but a sink of localism, a den of ignorance, narrow-mindedness and communalism ? I am glad that the Draft Constitution has discarded the village and adopted the individual as its unit."

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"The Draft Constitution is also criticised because of the safeguards it provides for minorities.... To diehards who have developed a kind of fanaticism against minority protection I would like to say two things. One is that minorities are an explosive force which,

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if it erupts, can blow up the whole fabric of the State. The history of Europe bears ample and appalling testimony to this fact. The other is that the minorities in India have agreed to place their existence in the hands of the majority.

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In the history of negotiations for preventing the partition of Ireland, Redmond said to Carson “ask for any safeguard you like for the Protestant minority but let us have a United Ireland.” Carson’s reply was “Damn your safeguards, we don’t want to be ruled by you.”

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No minority in India has taken this stand. They have loyally accepted the rule of the majority which is basically a communal majority and not a political majority."

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#IndianConstitution #RepublicDay2021 #Ambedkar