A revolutionary new book has fundamentally challenged the long-standing narrative about how India's Constitution was created, revealing extensive public participation that has remained hidden for over seven decades.
Challenging Constitutional Consensus
Assembling India's Constitution, authored by Rohit De and Ornit Shani and published by Penguin Random House India, presents compelling evidence that contradicts the established view of Constitution-making as an exclusively elite-driven process. For 75 years, scholars and legal experts have operated under the assumption that India's founding document was primarily shaped by distinguished members of the Constituent Assembly without significant public input.
This perspective, popularized by Granville Austin's seminal 1966 work The Indian Constitution: Cornerstone of a Nation, has been accepted by both critics and supporters of the constitutional process. Supporters argued that elite consensus was necessary to draft a Constitution during the turbulent period of 1947, while critics pointed to this top-down approach as evidence of democratic deficit.
Archival Revelations Transform Understanding
The authors conducted extensive archival research that uncovered a treasure trove of correspondence between ordinary citizens and the Constituent Assembly. What emerges is a picture of remarkably broad public engagement that included not just common men and women, but also student groups, colonial judiciary, princely states, provincial legislatures, and tribal communities.
Three particularly fascinating aspects of the book examine constitutional claims and model constitutions submitted by Manipur and other princely states, inputs from colonial provincial legislatures, and substantial contributions from tribal communities. The research also reveals how the Constitution was taken on tour to remote regions, ensuring that people who couldn't access the Assembly still had opportunities to participate.
Perhaps most significantly, the book documents that the Constituent Assembly secretariat maintained a systematic process for cataloging, filing, and presenting public correspondence to Assembly members for consideration.
Legal Implications and Contemporary Relevance
The timing of these revelations carries particular significance for contemporary legal debates. Author Gautam Bhatia, a Delhi-based advocate, notes that if this research had been available during the 2020 Central Vista case, it would have provided a stronger constitutional foundation for arguing that public participation represents a fundamental constitutional value.
In that case, the Supreme Court upheld the government's redevelopment plans while observing that India's founders chose a representative democracy model rather than direct democracy, distinguishing the Indian Constitution from those of South Africa and Kenya that explicitly enshrine public participation rights.
While the authors clarify that public inputs didn't necessarily directly shape the Constitution's final language, the sheer volume of participation challenges the Court's conclusion that public involvement was never a constitutional value. This historical evidence could now strengthen legal arguments for public participation in cases involving laws like the Forest Rights Act.
The 400-page book, priced at ₹799, represents what Bhatia describes as an original work of constitutional history and imagination that rewards careful study by constitutional lawyers, historians, and interested citizens alike.
