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(This story was first published on 2015 and is being reposted from The Quint’s archives on the occasion of Ambedkar Jayanti. You can read our other stories on Dr BR Ambedkar here.)
In November 2015, a blitzkrieg of sorts raged in the Indian Parliament. No, this was not a war being fought over a bill, or an ordinance. It involved the codex that shapes our republic — the Constitution of India.
The Indian government decided to declare 26 November as the Constitution Day, the day when it was adopted in 1949, months before it came into force on 26 January 1950, celebrated in the country as Republic Day. Prime Minister Modi categorically noted that the declaration was not only aimed at generating awareness about the Constitution, but also about Dr Ambedkar.
But did you know that the Father of the most detailed and wordy constitution wanted to burn it?
On 2 September 1953 while debating how a Governor in the country should be invested with more powers, Dr Ambedkar argued strongly in favour of amending the constitution.
Shruti Rajagopalan, Assistant Professor of Economics at State University of New York, Purchase College, while speaking on the historical, ideological, and economic context for constitutional amendments in India from 1950-78, speaks about Ambedkar’s resentment.
Two years later, on 19 March 1955, Dr Anup Singh, a Rajya Sabha member from Punjab, brought up Ambedkar’s remark, when the Fourth Amendment Bill was being discussed. Dr Singh asked, “Last time when you spoke, you said that you would burn the Constitution.”
There have been several media reports, views published across platforms, entailing the gabfest involving the Constitution. And then there are our politicians. But no one, absolutely no one has even bothered to take a short walk back in history, and considered what the maker of the Constitution had to say.
We ask you – if you want to honour someone, would you just adorn him with ceremonious accolades, or would you rather partake of the wisdom he once shared?
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