ABSTRACT
As known to most of us, 26th January is celebrated every year to commemorate the day when the Indian constitution came into effect, giving India the status of a Republic. After 2 years, eleven months and 17 days, involving 11 lengthy sessions, the world’s longest, most elaborate and inclusive constitution was birthed.
However, have our textbooks told us enough about the people who invested their days and nights into making of what we inherited as the Supreme Law of the country? Well, this 26th of January, when India with utmost pride shall celebrate completion of 72 years of being a republic, let us take a deeper dive and learn more about some progressive and powerful voices of the nation that we seldom talk about but without whose contribution, our constitution may not have been as inclusive.
THE SUPER 15!
Amidst the 389-member assembly, that later reduced to the total of 299 due of the catastrophic partition, there were 15 women who left their mark on the making of the republic. The assembly was a platform from which they could assert their equality and craft a politically balanced republic.
1. Hansa Mehta – Born in 1897 in the city of Surat, Gujarat, Hansa Jivraj began her political career by her winning in Bombay Legislative Council election,1937, and remained on the council until 1949. She took over as the president of All India Women’s Conference in 1946. She was appointed in the constituent assembly from Bombay on Congress party ticket and served between 1946-49. She was a member of the fundamental rights sub-committee, the advisory committee and the provincial constitutional committee. She significantly demanded and argued for UCC to become a part of justiciable fundamental rights. This Padma Bhushan awardee went further to pilot a change in the UDHR, from “All men are born free and equal" to “All human beings are born free and equal".
2. Ammu Swaminathan- Born in 1894 to Palakkad, Kerala, this woman with an undying spirit and determination formed the Women’s Association in 1917 to address the social and economic issues of women labourers. In 1946 she was elected to the constituent assembly from Madras. She firmly advocated the abolishment of the oppressive caste system and sided with Ambedkar on various issues. This upper-caste woman, recognised the evil of caste and even criticised Jawahar Lal Nehru for responding to Panditji which she saw a sign of superior class dominance. Her interventions on Fundamental Rights and Directive Principles in the constituent assembly are noteworthy.
3. Anne Mascarane – She was born in 1902 in Trivandrum. She was one of the first women to join the Travancore State Congress and the first woman to be part of the Travancore State Congress Working Committee. Her arguments in the hallowed walls of the Assembly were tinted with the same principles and fervour that had coloured her career in the princely state of Travancore. She spoke on how Centralization is crucial but too much of it can alter the very nature of democratic institutions. She argued that provincial autonomy and more importantly provincial elections, and legislatures need to maintain their independence, and cannot let the Centre assume the role of “custodian of justice”. She also expressed satisfaction with section 306B of the draft constitution, which tasked certain states to comply with central government directions.
4. Begum Aizaz Rasul - “There was much propaganda against me, especially a ‘Fatwa’ by the Ulemas that it was un-Islamic to vote for a non-purdah Muslim woman.” Begum Aizaz was born in Malerkotla, Punjab and was the only Muslim woman to be a part of the constituent assembly. In 1937 she won her first election from the non-reserved seat and became a member of the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Council, there she got rid of her purdah. Rasul chaired several committees and sub-committees in the constituent assembly. Her speeches and ideas were powerful and clear. She supported India’s membership to the Commonwealth, when many members opposed to it. Rasul demanded an agency to make sure that fundamental rights and directive principles were observed in all provinces in letter and spirit. This Padma Bhushan awardee was strictly against the formation of separate electorate for Muslim, for it was a self- destructive idea that’d make the majority and minority two different vehicles, separated from each other all the time.
5. Dakshayani Veludhiyan – For us the supreme leader who advocated the dalit rights has always been D.R Ambedkar but what many of us don’t know is the fact that Dakshayani Veludhiyan was the only Dalit woman in the constituent assembly, and the youngest amongst all others. She made key interventions on issues of untouchability, forced labour, reservations, and separate electorates for Dalits. A firebrand speaker, Dakshayani’s tenure at the constituent assembly was defined by two objectives; first- to go beyond framing a document and offer the people of India “a new framework of life”, second- to use the opportunity to make untouchability illegal and punishable by law. She did not support separate electorates or reservations. Her main goal was creating an India free of caste or community barriers.
She spoke against excessive centralisation of power in the Constitution and argued for greater decentralisation.
6. Kamala Chaudhary- Born in 1908 in the city of Lucknow, Kamala Chaudhary was an edgy feminist, writer and political worker who is yet a mystery, a closed book. An accomplished Hindi writer her themes were distinctively feminist and were considered bold. Many of them depicted the psychological trauma a woman underwent in Indian society during those times. From 1947, she played an important role in drafting the Constitution of India, till it was formed in 1950. Post which, till 1952 she served as the member of the Provincial Government of India. In the Fifty-Fourth Session of the All-India Congress Committee, she was the Senior Vice-President.
7. Malati Choudhary- Born in 1904 to a distinguished family in East Bengal (now Bangladesh), Malati represented Orissa at the Constituent Assembly In the year 1921. As a member of the Constituent Assembly, she advocated the role of education, especially adult education in rural reconstruction. She was discomforted by elitist or inorganic nature of the constitution. Further, she strongly believed that despite the granting of adult franchise, the “uneducated, poor, & hungry” was not going to be alleviated, and the Constitution isn’t as inclusive to give them a voice. She was nicknamed, “toofani” by Gandhiji.
8. Leela Roy- Born in 1900 in an upper middle-class family in Goalpara, Assam, she was a great social reformer, a staunch feminist and a social and political activist. A close associate of Netaji, Leela was sworn in as a member of the Constituent Assembly from Bengal on 9th December 1946, however, her strong protest against partition made her resign.
9. Purnima Bannerjee -Purnima Banerjee was a part of radical network of woman from Uttar Pradesh who stood at the forefront of the freedom movement in late 1930s and 40s. She served the constituent assembly from 1946-50. The most striking aspect of her speeches was her commitment to Socialism. She said that education and” right of livelihood and light of earning an honourable bread” should be a part of fundamental rights of the constitution. Her most significant argument came during the debate on article 22 of the preventive attention clause in the constitution where she argued that any form of detention of persons without trial is obnoxious to the whole idea of democracy.
10. Renuka Roy- Coming from a renowned and privileged family Renuka Ray is the descendant of the renowned Brahmo reformer Durgamohan das as well as SR Das, the founder of Doon school. She joined All India’s Women conference and worked relentlessly to champion women’s rights and inheritance rights in parental property. Ray served in the constitution in 1946-47 from West Bengal and made several interventions in the Assembly on women’s rights issues, minorities rights and bicameral legislature provision.
11. Rajkumari Amrit Kaur- Rajkumari Amrit Kaur was born in 1889, in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh. She was Mahatma Gandhi’s secretary for 16 years. She was the first woman in the cabinet of free India. Kaur got elected to the constituent assembly from Central provinces and Berar and was the member of two crucial committees; committee on fundamental rights and subcommittee on minority right. She, along with Hansa Jivraj Mehta, wrote to Sardar Patel, the head of the Advisory Committee, in favor of making Uniform Civil Code a justiciable, fundamental right.
12. Sarojini Naidu – She was born in 1879 as Sarojini Chattopadhyay in Hyderabad. Naidu got home education from her father.
She embarked on India's freedom movement by taking part in the congress session in Bombay in 1904. She went on to become the first Indian woman to preside Indian National Congress in 1925 at its 48 session, Kanpur. Naidu was appointed to the constituent assembly from Bihar and she spoke about the importance of adopting a national flag in the Assembly.
13. Suchita Kriplani - Suchita Kriplani was born in Ambala in June 1908. She completed her education at Indraprastha College Delhi University. Kriplani began her professional career as a teacher of constitutional history at Banaras Hindu University than 1939. She actively participated in the Indian Independence Movement in the 1940s. In 1946 kripalani was elected to the constituent assembly from the United provinces. She was a member of the flag presentation committee which presented the first Indian flag before the constituent assembly.
14. Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit- Born in 1980 in Allahabad she was the daughter of Motilal Nehru and Swaruprani thussu and the sister of Jawaharlal Nehru, premiere Prime Minister of India. In the latter part of 1946, she was elected to the constituent assembly from the United provinces and her contribution has ensured a certain amount of equality in the constitution on topics of minority rights, reservation, women's reservation, religious education and schooling. She condemned the effects of imperialism on colonized countries during her time in the constituent assembly. Vijayalakshmi advocated the good of all against the betterment of a few. She has fought many battles and broken many barriers for the women in India. While people constantly tried to remind her that she was a woman and an outsider, she didn’t let it affect her.
15. Durgabai Deshmukh- Deshmukh was born in 1909 in Kakinada. She was involved in the Indian freedom movement from a very young age. She participated in the Salt Satyagraha in Madras in the year 1930 and was imprisoned twice. She served the constituent assembly from the Madras province and has made several key interventions on issues that include the national language judicial independence in human trafficking. This Padma Vibhushan awardee was also felicitated by Nehru Literary Award (1971) for promotion of literacy.
CONCLUSION
While it is disheartening to notice that the representation of women in the Constituent Assembly was less than 4%, what’s also crucial is to observe the widespread illiteracy and subjugation especially against women, caused from pre-existing societal prejudices and norms which has numbered the amount of educated, politically strong and radical women at that time, to say the least. While the famous names of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, Rajendra Prasad, Dr. B.R. Ambedkar, etc. dominate the scenario, this committee had representation, no matter how sparse, of women too who clawed their way in to make space in the halls of the historic assembly.
REFERENCES
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Shambhavi Singh
A first year History Honors student studying in the University Of Delhi. Trying to understand the “what”, “when”, “why”, and “how” and simultaneously answer them logically; I love exhausting myself with reading/ doing research on variety of topics. A feminist in making, I am contributing to “bring the change you want to see” by being a part of WDC of my college.
You go girl ❤️