Luminaries from Karnataka made significant contributions to the statute book we are all expected to honour and follow today. KC Reddy, Kengal Hanumanthaiah, T Siddalingaya, H R Guruv Reddy, S V Krishnamurthy Rao, H Siddaveerappa, T Channiah and S Nijalingappa who were all from the then princely Mysore state played a role in drafting the Constitution as members of the Constituent Assembly.
B N Rao, also from Karnataka, served as the constitutional advisor.
There were 389 members in the Constituent Assembly that came into being in 1946 and 93 of them were from princely states. Members of the Drafting Committee headed by Dr B R Ambedkar included K M Munshi, Muhammed Saadulah, Alladi Krishnaswamy Iyer and N Gopalaswami Ayyangar. An accurate and articulate Hanumanthaiah who participated in several debates had his own views on culture, language and administration. A conservative and rightist, he believed in purity and a corruption-free approach. He was a bureaucratic-tempered politician.
KC Reddy was a pioneer and stalwart in the freedom movement. There were also people who represented the Constituent Assembly from Bombay Karnataka, Coorg, part of Madras which were later merged to form Karnataka. There was resistance from several princely states to join the Indian union. Even the then king of Mysore showed reluctance. This led to the Mysore Chalo movement where the people demanded a democratically elected state government, following which the then king fell in line.
KC Reddy was in the forefront of the movement.
Just imagine the strain on Jawaharlal Nehru, Sardar Patel and others to make India. There was no map. There were 544 states back then and the democratic leaders had to remove each monarch from the throne, making them equal to any ordinary citizen. Every person has only one vote which decides the destiny of a government at the time of elections. That is the beauty of the republic. Those were the days when the lower castes were not even allowed to draw water from the well which others used. They were made to sit outside schools. In those days, Ambedkar got a doctorate from Columbia University. The concept of scheduled castes came in after the Constitution adopted it. It was not there prior to that.
Ambedkar was chosen as the chairman of the Drafting Committee not because he was from a scheduled caste. He was chosen because he was the most knowledgeable person, something which many people forget. Ambedkar, born into an untouchable caste, had to make some compromises against his will during the framing of the Constitution. He grew up suffering humiliation and untouchability. There was so much discrimination towards the lower castes.
This is why he was insistent on a separate representative electorate. He, however, signed the Poona Pact after Gandhiji went on a hunger strike. Our’s is a time-tested Constitution which gives provision to Parliament to amend it with two-thirds of the state legislatures ratifying it. This is where the importance of the federal republic comes. Our first amendment was in 1951, just one year after the Constitution was finalised.
We have now reached a stage where we do not verify what we read, make conclusions and pass irresponsible remarks about the people who were at the helm of affairs in the past. This is unfair. Ideologically we may agree or disagree, but we cannot question the loyalty of freedom fighters who went on to join different political parties. We cannot question their loyalty as freedom fighters. Some of those who did not have anything to do with the national movement have never tried to study, digest and understand the road map by different people in different circumstances. That is not right. The Constitution did not happen overnight.
The principle ideal of the Constitution is reflected in its dreams, desires, intentions and responsibilities in the words in the preamble “We the people”. It does not discriminate on the basis of religions, regions or other considerations. The National Anthem “Jana Gana Mana” composed way back in 1911 by Rabindranath Tagore talks about the supremacy of the republic “gana”. Plurality, sovereignty and supremacy of the republic and non-violence are all woven together in the preamble, National Flag and the National Anthem. It is this foundation which is being shaken today. The fact remains that there are tremors. Is it for the good of the nation to allow such noble ideas to get disturbed? Or do we have a duty to cut across all narrow mindedness to safeguard this treasure given to us by the sagacity of the best of men who lived on this earth? As told to Ranjani Madhavan and V Velayudham