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The Making of the Indian Constitution: A Case for a Non‐nationalist Approach
Author(s) -
Elangovan Arvind
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
history compass
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.121
H-Index - 1
ISSN - 1478-0542
DOI - 10.1111/hic3.12117
Subject(s) - constitution , constitution of india , nationalism , politics , field (mathematics) , law , indian history , british empire , history , empire , political science , sociology , ancient history , mathematics , pure mathematics
The writing of the Indian constitution has often been celebrated for its momentousness, as it came at the end of a long period of anticolonial struggle. However, very little has been written on the making of the constitution. Often, the event of drafting the constitution is written‐off as part of a logical end to the British Empire in India or as part of a fulfilling of the promise made by India's anticolonial leaders. However, this has led to a severe impoverishment of the field of Indian constitutional history. In this essay, I suggest that we could benefit so much more by considering the long, complicated, and fraught history of constitution making separately from the process of the making of independent India. By separating nation‐making from constitution‐making, the field of constitutional and political history can only be a richer and more informative resource to understand the complex postcolonial developments in India.