• A survey on the eve of the sixtieth Independence Day showed that majority of Indians voted for democracy as the greatest pride of India.

• Democracy is both a cause and effect of the Indian Constitution.

• Post-colonial societies, especially in Afro-Asian nations, were seen as a litmus test for sustaining constitutional democratic government.

• Many of these nations failed to preserve values of humanity and governance, but India succeeded.

• India stands out as one of the few nations to rival classical democratic societies and is branded as the biggest democracy in the world.

• The deep-rooted ethos and vibrancy of democratic life in India are a result of the vision of the fathers of the Constitution.

• They envisioned India as a modern nation based on rule of law, secular character, democratic polity, and primacy of fundamental rights over state imperatives.

• The Constitution made comprehensive and mostly precise provisions to guide the nation’s democratic journey.

• The Constitution’s salient features cover the Preamble, Fundamental Rights, Fundamental Duties, and Directive Principles of State Policy.

• It also encompasses the federal structure, the Parliamentary System, and the amending procedures of the Constitution.

FOUNDING FETTERS OF THE CONSTITUTION

• Framing an acceptable Constitution for free India was an arduous task, yet the Constituent Assembly produced the longest democratic Constitution in the world.

• The partition and violence in Punjab and Bengal created nervousness among leaders, who sought to instill confidence in governability.

• The integration of over 500 princely states was a huge challenge, with resistance from Junagadh, Hyderabad, and Jammu & Kashmir.

• Despite Pakistan’s creation, India was not homogenous; more than 10% of Muslims remained, requiring protection of religious and cultural identities.

• India was home to numerous communities, speaking different languages, following different customs, traditions, and faiths, making unity with diversity a constitutional necessity.

• The national movement raised high expectations, particularly among Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, and other backward communities, for social justice through the new Constitution.

• Strong liberal democratic traditions, championed by Nehru, ensured full democracy, despite risks of universal adult franchise and dangers to unity and integrity.

• These challenges were also opportunities for Constitution-makers to display constitutional acumen and innovativeness.

• To address contradictory demands, they drafted a lengthy, all-encompassing Constitution, including both classical provisions (powers of government, fundamental rights) and unconventional provisions like Directive Principles of State Policy for socio-economic change.

• The Government of India Act, 1935 provided the foundational base, showing continuity with colonial governance.

• Inspiration was also drawn from the American Constitution (fundamental rights, democracy) and Irish Constitution (Directive Principles).

• The Objective Resolution, drafted by Nehru and adopted on 22 January 1947, gave the spirit to the Constitution.

• It manifested in the Preamble, declaring goals of justice (social, economic, political), liberty of thought, expression, belief, faith, worship, equality of status and opportunity, and fraternity ensuring dignity of the individual.

• The Constituent Assembly finalized seven basic decisions: written Constitution, federal structure, republic form of state, parliamentary democracy, Commonwealth membership, secular state, and welfare state.

• These decisions embodied the dreams of the national movement and shaped the constitutional polity.

• Scholar Austin identified a “seamless web” of three strands: national unity and integrity, spirit of democracy, and social revolution.

• He stressed their mutual dependence; weakening any strand would distort the web, risking the destruction of the nation.

• Though Austin stressed the mutual dependence of the three strands, the framers seemed to prioritize them in a clear “first things first” order.

• The Constitution of India, framed with perseverance and vision, aimed to meet immediate challenges like communal violence while also envisioning an era of “Ram Rajya” as dreamt by Gandhi.

• The first priority of the framers was to guard unity and integrity, granting sweeping powers to the Central Government, even at the cost of diluting federalism.

• Despite few explicit mentions of unity and integrity, provisions like All India Services (IAS, IPS) and retention of colonial frameworks ensured a strong central authority.

• The preservation of unity and integrity thus became the running consideration of the Constitution from start to end.

• Once assured of India’s indestructibility, the framers infused the ethos of democracy within a parliamentary system based on universal adult franchise.

• Periodic elections by an independent constitutional body became the trump card for democracy.

• Democracy was ensured through classical negative rights of Western mould, granting citizens minimum guarantees such as freedom of choice, participation, and volition.

• For the framers, democracy was not absolute like unity and integrity, but rather a supporting value meant to evolve over time.

• The value of social revolution was considered only after embedding unity, integrity, and democracy.

• Framers acknowledged social revolution as necessary to make democracy meaningful and sustainable, but placed it as a later priority.

• The three strands thus formed a pyramidal structure:

  • Base: unity and integrity of the nation.

  • Middle: democracy.

  • Top: social revolution.

• The web of the Constitution was not circular, but layered, each value depending on the durable existence of the preceding one.

• The Venn diagrammatic nature reflects one value residing within the hard shell of another, enabling progression from unity → democracy → social revolution.

• In sum, the Constitution is a seamless web of values but with a hierarchical order of indispensability.