15/08/2023
CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY OF INDIA DEBATES (PROCEEDINGS)-
Thursday, the 14th August 1947
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The Fifth Session of the Constituent Assembly of India commenced in the Constitution Hall, New Delhi, at Eleven P. M., Mr. President (The Honourable Dr. Rajendra Prasad) in the Chair.
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SINGING OF VANDE MATARAM
Mr. President : The first item on the Agenda is the singing of the first verse of VANDE MATARAM. We will listen to it all standing.
Shrimati Sucheta Kripalani (U. P.: General) sang the first verse of the VANDE MATARAM sang.
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PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS
Mr. President :
(Mr. President then delivered his address in Hindustani the fun text of which is published in the Hindustani edition of the Debates.)
In this solemn hour, of our history when after many years of struggle we are taking over the governance of this country, let us offer humble thanks to the Almighty Power that shapes the destinies of men and nations and let us recall in grateful remembrance the services and sacrifices of all those men and women, known and unknown, who with smiles on their face walked to the gallows or faced bullets on their chests, who experience living death in the cells of the Andamans, or spent long years in the prisons of India, who preferred voluntary exile in foreign countries to a life of humiliation in their own, who not only lost wealth and property but cut themselves off from near and dear ones to devote themselves to the achievement of the great objective which we are witnessing today.
Let us also pay our tribute of love and reverence to Mahatma Gandhi who has been our beacon light, our guide and philosopher during the last thirty years or more. He represents that undying spirit in our culture and make-up which has kept India alive through vicissitudes of our history. He it is who pulled us out of the slough of despond and despair and blowed into us a spirit which enabled us to stand up for justice to claim our birth-right of freedom and placed in our hands the matchless and unfailing weapon of Truth and Non-violence which, without arms and armaments has won for us the invaluable prim of Swaraj at a price which, when the history of these times comes to be written, will be regarded as incredible for a vast country of our size and for the teeming millions of our population. We were indifferent instruments that he had to work with but he led us with consummate skill, with unwavering determination, with an undying faith in our future, with faith in his weapon and above all with faith in God. Let us prove true to that faith. Let us hope that India will not, in the hour of her triumph, give up or minimise the value of the weapon which served not only to rouse and inspire here in her moments of depression but has also proved its efficacy. India has a great part to play in the shaping and moulding of, the future of a war distracted world. She can play that part not by mimicking, from a distance, what others are doing, or by joining in the race for armaments and competing with others in the discovery of the latest and most effective instruments of destruction. She has now the opportunity, and let us hope, she will have the courage and strength to place before the world for its acceptance her infallible substitute for war and bloodshed, death and destruction. The world needs it and will welcome it, unless it is prepared to reel back into barbarism from which it boasts to have emerged.
Let us then assure all countries of the world that we propose to stick to our historic tradition to be on terms of friendship and amity with all,, that we have no designs against any one and hope that none will have any against us. We have only one ambition and desire, that is, to make our contribution to the building up of freedom for all and peace among mankind.
The country, which was made by God and Nature to be one, stands divided today. Separation from near and dear ones, even from strangers after some association, is always painful. I would be untrue to myself if I did not at this moment confess to a sense of sorrow it this separation. But I wish to send on your behalf and my own our greetings and good wishes for success and the best of luck in the high endeavour of government in which the people of Pakistan, which till today has been a part and parcel of ourselves, will be engaged. To those who feel like us but are on the other side of the border we send a word of cheer. They should not give way to panic but should stick to their hearths and homes, their religion and culture and cultivate the qualities of courage and forbearance. They have no reason to fear that they will not get protection and just and fair treatment and they should not become victims of doubt and suspicion. They must accept the assurances publicly given and I their rightful place in the polity of the State, where they are placed, by their loyalty.
To all the minorities in India we give the assurance that they will receive fair and just treatment and there will be no discrimination in any form against them. Their religion, their culture and their language are safe and they will enjoy all the rights and privileges of citizenship, and will be expected in their turn to render loyalty to the country in which they live and to its constitution. To all we give the assurance that it will be our endeavour to end poverty and squalor and its companions, hunger and disease; to abolish distinction and exploitation and to ensure decent conditions of living.
We are embarking on a great task. We hope that in this we shall have the unstinted service and co-operation of all our people and the sympathy and support of all the communities. We shall do our best to deserve it.
Mr. President: After this I propose that we all stand in silence to honour the memory of those who have died in the struggle for freedom in India and elsewhere.
(The Assembly stood in silence for two minutes.)
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MOTION RE. PLEDGE BY MEMBERS
Mr. President: Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru will now move the motion which stands in his name.
The Honourable Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru (U.P. : General): *[Mr. President, many years ago we had made a tryst with destiny itself. We had taken a pledge, a vow. Now the time has come to redeem it. But perhaps the pledge has not yet been redeemed fully through stages have been reached in that direction. We have almost attained independence. At such a moment, it is only appropriate that we take a new pledge, a new vow to serve India and her people. After a few moments, the Assembly will assume the status of a fully free and independent body and it will represent an independent and free country. Therefore great responsibilities are to devolve upon it. If we do not realise the importance of our responsibilities, then we shall not be able to discharge our duties fully. Hence it becomes essential for us to take this pledge after fully understanding all its implications. The resolution that I am presenting before you relates to that pledge. We have finished one phase, and for that rejoicings are going on today. Our hearts are full of joy and some pride and satisfaction. But we know that there is no rejoicing in the whole of the country. There is enough of grief in our hearts. Not far from Delhi, big cities are ablaze and its heat is reaching us here. Our happiness cannot be complete. At this hour we have to face all these things with a brave heart. We are not to raise a hue and cry and get perturbed. When the reins of Government have come to our hands, we have to do things in the right way. Generally, countries wrest their freedom after great bloodshed, tears and toil. Much blood has been spilt in our land, and in a way which is very painful. Notwithstanding that, we have achieved freedom by peaceful methods. We have set a new example before the world. We are free now but along with freedom, come responsibilities and burdens. We have to face them, and overcome them all. Our dream is now about to be translated into reality. The task of wresting freedom and ousting the foreign government was before us till now and that task is now accomplished. But uprooting the foreign domination is not all unless and until each and every Indian breathes the air of freedom and his miseries are banished and his hard lot is improved. Our task remains unfinished. Therefore a large portion of our task remains to be done, and we shall try to accomplish it. Big problems confront us and at their sight sometimes our heart quivers, but, then again, the thought that in the past we have faced many a big problem and we shall do so again, gives us courage. Shall we be cowed down by these? It is not the individual pride and strength that is comforting, rather it is the pride of the country and the nation, and a confidence in people who have suffered a terribly for the cause that makes me feel bold to think we shall successfully shoulder the huge burden of hardships, and find a solution of these problems. After all, India, is now free. That is well and good. At a time when we are on the threshold of freedom, we should remember that India does not belong to any one party or group of people or caste. It does not belong to the followers of any particular religion. It is the country of all, of every religion and creed. We have repeatedly defined the type of freedom we desire. In the first resolution, which I moved earlier, it has been said that our freedom is to be shared equally by every Indian. All Indians shall have equal rights, and each one of them is to partake equally in that freedom. We shall proceed like that and whosoever tries to be aggressive will be checked by us. If anyone is oppressed we shall stand by his side. If we follow this path then we shall be able to solve big problems, but if we become narrow minded we shall not be able to solve them.
I shall read out in English this resolution which I am now putting before you]*
Long years ago we made a tryst with destiny, and now the time comes when we shall redeem our pledge, not wholly or in full measure, but very substantially. At the stroke of the midnight hour, when the world sleeps, India will awake to life and freedom. A moment comes, which comes but rarely in history, when we step out from the old to the new, when an age ends, and when the soul of a nation, long suppressed, finds utterance. It is fitting that at this solemn moment we take the pledge of dedication to the service of India and her people and to the still larger cause of humanity.
At the dawn of history India started on her unending quest, and trackless centuries are filled with her striving and the grandeur of her successes and her failures. Through good and ill fortune alike she has never lost sight of that quest or forgotten the ideals which gave her strength. We end today a period of ill fortune and India discovers herself again. The achievement we celebrate today is but a step, an opening of opportunity, to the greater triumphs and achievements that await us. Are we brave enough and wise enough to grasp this opportunity and accept the challenge of the future?
Freedom and power bring responsibility. That responsibility rests upon this Assembly, a sovereign body representing the sovereign people of India. Before the birth of freedom we have endured all the pains of labour and our hearts are heavy with the memory of this sorrow. Some of those pains continue even now. Nevertheless the past is over and it is the future that beckons to us now.
That future is not one of ease or resting but of incessant striving so that we might fulfil the pledges we have so often taken and the one we shall take today. The service of India means the service of the millions who suffer. It means the ending of poverty and ignorance and disease and inequality of opportunity. The ambition of the greatest man of our generation has been to wipe every tear from every eye. That may be beyond us but as long as there are tears and suffering, so long our work will not be over.
And so we have to labour and to work and work hard to give reality to our dreams. Those dreams are for India, but they are also for the world, for all the nations and peoples are too closely knit together today for any one of them to imagine that it can live apart. Peace has been said to be indivisible, so is freedom, so is prosperity now, and so also is disaster in this One World that can no longer be split into isolated fragments.
To the people of India, whose representatives we are, we make appeal to join us with faith and confidence in this great adventure. This is no time for petty and destructive criticism, no time for ill-will or blaming others. We have to build the noble mansion of free India where all her children may dwell.
I beg to move, Sir,
"That it be resolved that:
(1) After the last stroke of midnight, all members of the Constituent Assembly present on this occasion, do take the following pledge:
'At this solemn moment when the people of India, through suffering and sacrifice, have secured freedom, I................................, a member of the Constituent Assembly of India, do dedicate myself in all humility to the service of India and her people to the end that this ancient land attain her rightful place in the world and make her full and willing contribution to the promotion of world peace and the welfare of mankind;
(2) Members who are not present on this occasion do take the pledge (with such verbal changes as the President may prescribe) at the time they next attend a session of the Assembly." (Loud applause.)
