We all know that our Constituent Assembly was framed in November 1946 by the Cabinet Mission Plan. Under this Assembly, many committees were present that performed different tasks assigned to them for the preparation of the Constitution of India. The Assembly had 11 sessions over 2 years, 11 months, and 18 days and outraged the Constitution that we have with us till the present time and will use it for the future also, of course with some amendments according to the needs of that time.
It was the tight writing and clear explanation by our Constituent Assembly that made our Constitution one of the best Constitutions in its very early phase of formation. Our Constitution has given the universal adult franchise from the very first beginning of it. Even The U.S.A. Constitution in its early stage did not provide voting rights to women, our Indian Constitution has had this right for women from its birth. The reason for this is the members of our Constituent Assembly, who have discussed every aspect of the 60 constitutions of different countries and tried to get essential facts and the missing information in them, which can be very useful for the people of India. In the great Constitution that we have, everyone has the right to equality of speech, freedom, against exploitation, constitutional remedies, and many other rights to ensure the well-being of the people of India. Still, we have a few people who criticize our Constituent Assembly.
Let us discuss much of that criticism and how far that criticism is right or wrong.
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1. Not a representative body:
Many critics have argued that the constituent assembly was not a representative body as the members of it were not elected by the people of India by the method of direct election or universal adult franchise. Our explanation is the situation of that time
period of 1946-50 in India. At that time in India, no earlier system of elections had been presented, and no budget was present for the process of elections. Also, representatives in the Constituent Assembly were selected by members of the particular community of the representative.
Also, the number of representatives was made according to the population proportion of the community in India. This concludes that this criticism is wrong.
2. Not a sovereign body:
Many criticize it because it was created by the British government. Furthermore, they said that the Assembly held its sessions with British Government permission. This criticism is wrong as, after the Indian Independence Act of 1947, all British limitations were removed, and the Constituent Assembly became a sovereign body. this is the 2nd Criticism of our Constituent Assembly
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3. Time-consuming:
Most people Criticise our Constituent Assembly because they think that it took a long period of time compared to other countries’
constitutions, as the U.S. Constitution was completed in less than four months. The reason is that their constitution was not perfectly
bound. They did not provide many rights at the time of their constitution’s formation, but hundreds of years later, like the right to vote for women. But in the Indian Constitution, we accepted universal adult franchises. Since we tried to cover almost all necessary rights and acts, that’s why our Constitution took a long time. But the result is much bigger than the time that our Constituent Assembly invested.
4. Dominated by the Hindus and Congress:
This criticism was definitely wrong as the constituent assembly has members of each and every community according to their population. So, of course, Hindus were in majority so Hindu representatives were more than any other community. And second, Congress was the biggest party at that time and had a very big hand in the independence of the country. Almost every famous leader or fighter of Indian independence was linked to Congress at any point in time. Hence, these leaders of Congress were elected as representatives, and hence Congress has more seats than any other party.
5. Domination of Lawyers and Politicians:
We know that the leaders of the Indian freedom movement were mostly lawyers like Mahatma Gandhi and Dr. B.R. Ambedkar, etc. The trend was for law degrees at that time. Moreover, most politicians have great skills in dealing with legislative work, and so they dominate the Constituent Assembly. This resulted in the bulkiness of the Constitution, but it was necessary to explain every aspect of any act and the conditions of the rules and regulations to be implemented in a proper manner. Hence, it was good to have lawyers and politicians who
worked for the upliftment of the country as their representatives in the Constituent Assembly.
Conclusion :
We can say that our Constituent Assembly was an assembly of gems of India who made the Indian Constitution is the most reliable and perspicuous Constitution among the Constitutions of developed and developing countries in the world