THE STORY BEHIND INDIA’S CONSTITUTION
November 26 marks Constitution Day, the day in 1949 when the document was passed and adopted by the Assembly. The following year, on January 26, 1950, the Constitution came into force, marking the birth of the Indian Republic. But a frequent criticism hurled at the Constituent Assembly and the deliberations made by the members is that the process was controlled by elites and, therefore, didn’t represent the true aspirations of the Indian public as a country’s Constitution should.
This week, we recommend A People’s Constitution: The Everyday Life of Law in the Indian Republic by historian Rohit De, who uses case papers and historical anecdotes to make the case that the constitutional culture was shaped by many ordinary individuals who took faith in the document in profound ways.