Opinion Eyes of the Past and Future

This being the 60th year of our Republic,I have been re-reading the Constituent Assembly Debates...

June 27, 2010 02:51 AM IST First published on: Jun 27, 2010 at 02:51 AM IST

This being the 60th year of our Republic,I have been re-reading the Constituent Assembly Debates—that priceless collection of the ideas,reflections and meditations of many of the greatest Indians who not only fought for our nation’s freedom but also shaped its post-Independence destiny by producing a republican Constitution that has stood the test time. Of course,the tallest among them,Mahatma Gandhi,was absent in the Assembly,he not being its member. Nevertheless,as Jawaharlal Nehru acknowledged in one of the sessions,“the Father of our Nation has been the architect of this Assembly and all that has gone before it and possibly of much that will follow…(Although he is absent) his spirit hovers over this place and blesses our undertaking.”

Reading the two volumes of Munshi Papers: Indian Constitutional Documents,published by the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan (whose founder Dr KM Munshi was a leading member of the Constituent Assembly) is an invaluable education about what is undoubtedly the most decisive period in modern Indian history. One is simply overwhelmed by the sheer quality and intensity of the debates,and also the enormous erudition of most of the participants—besides Nehru and Munshi,Dr Rajendra Prasad,who presided over the Assembly,Vallabhbhai Patel,Maulana Azad,Dr BR Ambedkar,Dr S Radhakrishnan,Dr Syama Prasad Mookerjee,Sarojini Naidu and others. One is also struck by how a lot of what they debated over six decades ago sounds relevant even today. Above all,one is pained by the sharp contrast in the standards of debate then and now. A crash course in the Constituent Assembly Debates must be made compulsory for all our MPs and MLAs.

The star performer in the Constituent Assembly was not Dr Ambedkar —notwithstanding the latter-day myth created to make people believe that he was the sole architect of the Indian Constitution—but Nehru himself. Every time he spoke in the Assembly,his words carried the gravitas and stamp of authority of the future leader of the nation. Nowhere is it more evident than in the all-important Resolution on the Aims and Objects of the Constitution,which he moved on 13th December 1946. He spoke twice on the subject,at great length on both occasions,first when he moved the resolution and later when it was adopted after six weeks of in-depth deliberations.

Even by the Nehruvian standards of oratory,the two speeches excel in idealism laced with lyricism. Indeed,they prefigure the incomparable ‘Tryst With Destiny’ oration he would make on the midnight of freedom eight months later. “We,who have this tremendous task of Constitution-making”,he says,“have to think of the tremendous task of the present and the greater prospect of the future and not get lost in seeking small gains for this group or that.” (Emphasis added) Then,using an expression that belongs more to the language of mysticism than of rationality,he adds,“The eyes of our entire past—the 5,000 years of India’s history—are upon us. Our past is witness to what we are doing here and though the future is still unborn,the future too somehow looks at us.” Nehru reminds the Constituent Assembly that,as India stood at the end of an era and embarked upon a new age,“our forbears and future generations are watching this undertaking of Constitution-making and possibly blessing it,if we moved aright.”

Eyes of the past? And eyes of the future? What strange concepts are these? Do they make sense to our parliamentarians and legislators,our ministers and bureaucrats,our political leaders,and to all the rest of us? Do we all feel,as Nehru felt at the time of Constitution-making,that the generations before us and the generations after us are watching our actions today? No. Most of us choose to live only for the present,getting lost in seeking “small gains” for ourselves,unaware of and also unconcerned about our responsibility as “trustees of the future” and as “inheritors of a great past”.

Nehru,as our first prime minister,certainly committed several mistakes. India continues to pay a heavy price of those mistakes even today. However,I feel that we often judge him too harshly. Nehru had a sense of history,and a deep pride in India’s past that is overlooked by both his uncritical admirers,who only view him as a modernist,and his critics,who believe that he was too westernised. What is especially instructive for us today is the powerful thought that he passionately articulated in the Constituent Assembly—the actions of every generation are watched by the “eyes of the past” as well as the “eyes of the future”. This sublime and sobering thought is rooted in an understanding of human life as an unbroken continuity. Our ancestors continue to live in us,just as we will continue to remain alive in the generations yet to come. This realisation begets a sense of responsibility: What we do with our life today will be judged by whether it is worthy of the best dreams of the past and also the best aspirations of the future.

For more such edification,read the Constituent Assembly Debates.

sudheenkulkarni@gmail.com