92 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES
and to submit to the Assembly for consideration the text of the draft Constitution as revised by the Committee”…….
…….That was the amendment which was accepted by the House. Sir, after this amendment of the Honourable Mr. Kher which was accepted by the House, it does not lie in the mouth of the Members of the Constituent Assembly to say that we have gone far beyond our jurisdiction……..
Mr. Vice-President : Let us proceed with the subject.
*Syed Muhammad Saadulla : …….How can I tell Honourable Members that we toiled and moiled that we did our best, that we ransacked all the known Constitutions, ancient and recent from three different continents, lo produce a Draft which has been termed to be nothing but patch-work ? Bui those who are men of art, those who love crafts, know perfectly well that even by patch-work, beautiful patterns, very lovable designs can be created. I may claim that in spite of the deficiencies in our Draft we have tried to bring a complete picture, to give this Honourable House a document as full as possible which may form the basis of discussion in this House. The Drafting Committee never claimed this to be the last word on the Constitution, that its provisions are infallible or that these Articles cannot be changed. The very fact that this Draft has been placed before this august House for final acceptance shows that we are not committed lo one policy or the other. Where we had differed from the recommendations of Committees, or where who had the temerity to change a word here or a word there from the accepted principles of this august House, we have given sufficient indication in foot-notes, so that nothing can be put in surreptitiously there. The attention of the House has been drawn so that their ideas may be focussed on those items in which the Drafting Committee thought that they should deviate from the principles already accepted or from the recommendations of the Committees.
[ After Mr. Saadulla’s speech, the motion was put to vote as under. —Ed.]
Mr. Vice-President : The question is :
“That the Constituent Assembly do proceed to take into consideration the Draft Constitution of India settled by the Drafting Committee appointed in pursuance of the resolution of the Assembly dated the 29th day of August.
1947.”
The motion was adopted.
[ The Draft Constitution is appended herewith. Clause by clause discussion of the Draft Constitution followed. Dr. Ambedkar’s piloting of the Constitution may be seen in the next two parts of this Volume.—Ed. ]
*CAD, Vol. VII. 9th November 1948, p. 389.