CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY DEBATES 83
his unique performance in delivering the speech he did while introducing his motion for the consideration of this House………
- Mr. Z. H . Lari : …….In order to assess the value of the provisions, we have to bear in mind two things : firstly, certain admissions made by the Honourable Mover of the Resolution, I mean the Honourable Dr. Ambedkar, and secondly our experience of the working of democracy in the last fifteen months after the attainment of independence. When the House adopted resolutions which are the basis of the Draft Constitution, we had no such experience before us ; but now we have. The first admission that the Honourable Mover made was, and I will use his own words : “Democracy in India is only a top-dressing on Indian soil, which is essentially undemocratic”……….“It is wiser not trust the legislatures to prescribe forms of administration. “With respect, I say he is mainly right.
† Mr. Hussain Imam : …….I must say that I find the position of the President of the Drafting Committee unenviable. He has been attacked from the left for not having copied the Soviet Constitution, and from the right for not having gone back to the village panchayat as his unit. May I say that there is an element of confusion in some of our friends minds, when they want that the Constitution should provide for all the ills to which Indians are subject. It is not part of the Constitution that it should provide for cloth and food. A very revered Member of this Constituent Assembly regretted that this Constitution does not contain any provision for that purpose. My submission, Sir, is that the Constitution is based on the needs of a country to which it is applied. We have to see whether this Constitution does supply those essentials which are peculiar to our own circumstances……
‡ Begum Aizaz Rasul (United Provinces: Muslim) : Sir, I congratulate the Honourable Dr. Ambedkar for his lucid and illuminating exposition of the draft Constitution. He and the Drafting Committee had no ordinary task to perform and they deserve our thanks.
Sir, I feel it a great privilege to be associated with the framing of the Constitution. I am aware of the solemnity of the occasion. After
*CAD, Vol. VII, 8th November 1948. p. 298.
† Ibid., p. 302.
‡ Ibid., p. 305.