This #RepublicDay let us remember our Founding Parents. We still call them founding fathers, the men who built the republic, when very clearly it was not!
A guest thread on the women who shaped the Indian Constitution by @binaryfootprint.
Maybe, just maybe this year can be about
1) Adjusting our vision to see the women 2) Correcting ppl to say founders & founding parents 3) Learning that more than a century ago, there were women & a women’s movement that contributed as much if not more to the Indian Republic
Have you wondered how it would have been if we had 284 women and 15 men writing the constitution of India? (Or at the very least equal number of men and women!)
How different would our republic have been?
Women probably would have had equality in every phase of life!
After all, Hansa Mehta who was part of the constituent assembly also drafted in 1946 the Indian women’s charter of rights and duties that called for full equality for women.
Property rights that gave women equal rights would have definitely been a central part of the constitution, & a lot more expansive and considerate to women.
Purnima Banerji argued for it during the debates, and something Vijaylakshmi Pandit might have been able to talk about.
We might have had a more decentralized system of government with the country going to vote on the constitution even before we became a republic!
Both were points that Dakshayani Velayudhan and Annie Mascarene insisted on in their speeches in front of the Constituent assembly.
Dakshayani Velayudhan and Annie Mascarene were the only Dalit and Christian women members respectively of the Constituent Assembly Debates.
We might have had elections for the upper and lower houses of the parliament in line with what the US has.
Begum Aizaz Rasul was one of the strongest voices in the constituent assembly calling for this.
Rajkumari Amrit Kaur and Renuka Ray were strongly against the idea of a separate electorate for women. They called the idea of separate electorates “an impediment to our growth and an insult to our very intelligence and capacity”.
A lot of the women were privileged in different ways. But a lot of the women also argued their positions with the idea that the constitution was the culmination of a century old struggle.
The India that they envisioned was one where all were equal and all were free.
Let uspause for a moment to take a deep breath and laugh/cry out loud!
Reading some of the speeches of these 15 women sometimes feels like I am taking a doobie trip!
I want to go wake each one of these women, point, and laugh/cry at how hopeful they were about the future!!
Renuka Ray dismissed the idea that the country would ever be in a situation where men would need to be coaxed to appoint women because of their abilities and nothing else.
And there will be a time when women capable and able as much as any man would be asked to step forward.
A famous song lyric goes
“Women don’t have anything good happen to them without a revolution” and like all good revolutions, India’s non-revolution revolution also had a beginning and a founder.
Sarojini Naidu can be called the first Indian suffragette. Her revolution - along with Annie Besant, Margaret Cousins, Naidu led a delegation calling for the right to vote for Indian women in 1917 when the Montagu commission came to India.
Like they say “All feminists are suffragists, but all suffragists are not feminists"
Indian women by the way got the right to vote in a limited way in 1920. Madras presidency led the way.
Durgabai Deshmukh was one of the most voluble speakers in the assembly. Her speeches ranged from education, language, rights and duties, and federal oversight.
Strangest among her speeches was a call for greater oversight of movies that are not “educational”.
We might have had a less verbose constitution if Ammu Swaminathan had had her say. India was an example for a lot of countries that sought independence at that time.
Can you imagine the larger role India would've played if we had a more diverse set creating the Constitution?
Leela Roy, Malati Choudhury resigned their post in protest and disappointment. Protesting against partition, and disappointment over the lack of originality in the constitution.
Malati Choudhury also was going through what we fancy people call “Imposter Syndrome”.
Maybe they would have stayed if there were more women. There are times when it feels as if they saw the future clearly.
And suffice to say the Bose loyalist Leela Roy and the Marxist Malati Choudhury would have made the constitution that much more interesting and colorful.
The thing is we very rarely get a chance to think of alternate realities when it comes to the big ideas.
And the world that has been built, republics that were created, and Independence stories are written have all been from the point of view of men and by men.
In the end, some things were how they ought to be!
Sucheta Kriplani, founder of India Mahila Congress, sang the first verses of Vande Mataram, Saare Jahaan Se Accha, and Jana Gana Mana just before India’s “tryst with destiny”.
So, the next time someone says "Founding Fathers" do remind them (politely) that it should be Founding Parents!!
Back in 1971 when the nation was formed, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, considered the leader of the freedom movement, was not in the country - he was in jail in Pakistan.
And it was a former lover of Bhutto who was able to secure his release.
A love story 🧵
In 1971 Pakistan's armed forces laid down their arms at a ceremony in Dhaka before the joint command of the Indian armed forces and Bangladesh's Mukti Bahini.
As the two armed forces were celebrating their victory, Mrs Indira Gandhi had other things to worry about.
1. The enormous cost of the war 2. The cost of dealing with over 10M refugees 3. The un-budgeted responsibility of having to look after the 93,000 Pakistani soldiers taken as POWs.
India wanted to keep the POW's in conditions that went above and beyond Geneva norms.
A school-going kid once visited the Congress party office, where Tamil lyricist Kavirajar Kannadasan asked, "Would you like to work in films, child?" The kid said, "Ask my father."
This child was destined to become one of India's greatest superstars!
A thread on Sridevi! 🧵
It is said that when Sridevi was born, there was a bright red mark on her forehead, and hence people started that a devi had born in the house.
Thus she was named Shree Amma Yanger Ayyapan.
Before ruling the box office as a leading star, Sridevi was a phenomenally accomplished child artist.
Here she is, sharing the screen with MG Ramachandran, playing his nephew in a film that also starred J. Jayalalitha!
This film, starring Supriya Pathak & Hugh Grant, is based on a novel by Mircea Eliade.
Its the story of a 23-year-old Mircea who came to Calcutta to study under philosopher Surendranath Dasgupta.
There, he fell in love with Maitreyi - teacher's daughter.
Sounds familiar? A 🧵
In this novel, Mircea fictionalizes how his love story was cut short because Surendranath Dasgupta was unhappy about the relationship. The relationship was "exposed" by Maitreyi Devi's sister.
The novel was published in 1933, a couple of years after Mircea's time in Calcutta.
For some additional context, Maitreyi was a savant! Maitreyi was mentored by Rabindranath Tagore, and she even wrote a book Mongpute Rabindranath (Tagore by The Fire Side) about the time spent with the great poet.
20 years ago, we were reminded that good films need not make money, & films that make good money need not be great!
On June 18, 2004, Lakshya was released, telling the story of an aimless rich youngster who joins the Indian Army & discovers his true goal.
A thread🧵
Lakshya was written by @Javedakhtarjadu: He was told by senior army officers about the declining enrollments to the Indian army each year, prompting him to promise to write a film addressing the issue!
The script marked Akthar's comeback as a scriptwriter after ages!
Lakshya was a departure from the kinds of war movies made at the time like Border, LOC Kargil etc.
In fact, director @FarOutAkhtar's goal was to tell a story about a boy who finds himself in the backdrop of Kargil War.
On June 15, 2001, the world saw the release of a monumental film in scale & vision, with its main plot revolving around a cricket match between India & the British Empire!
A thread 🧵on Lagaan, the film that convinced Aamir Khan to pursue the kind of films he believed in.
After two failed attempts at films, @AshGowariker's confidence was low.
He then conceived a story where a key battle is resolved by a cricket match. He pitched this to Aamir in 4 lines, who told him not to waste time on this.
Lagaan was @AshGowariker’s third foray into direction after his earlier two movies – Pehla Nasha and Baazi.
Baazi is famous for the “Item number” by Aamir Khan. Pehla Nasha had Aamir and SRK in the same movie with some cringe worthy puns
This is freedom fighter Raj Narain, who achieved the greatest electoral upset in India's history.
In the 1977 elections held after the lifting of the Emergency, Raj Narain defeated Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.
A thread 🧵
The story begins with the 1971 election.
Originally scheduled for 1972, Indira Gandhi called for early elections, catching opposition by surprise.
The opposition quickly recovered and nominated Raj Narain to contest against Mrs. Gandhi in Rae Bareli.
📸 @htTweets
Indira Gandhi was probably displeased with the nomination.
At a campaign rally she said, "Mr. Narain had been chosen by the opposition parties to contest from Rae Bareli because he was a well-known Nehru hater and baiter."