A Critical Comment On The Book Sixteen Stormy Days

The citizens of India are privileged to have a magnificent constitution for them. The Constitution of India is the longest of the written constitutions of the world. After extensive debates of nearly three years, the Constituent Assembly finally adopted the Constitution on 26th November, 1949. It became formerly the Constitution of India on 26th January, 1950. Sixteen months passed, Jawaharlal Nehru's government sensed the need for some changes to the Constitution. Judicial interference with legislative exercises made the main cause for this move. The government introduced the Constitution (First Amendment) Act, 1951 in the parliament in May 1951 and the Constitution stood amended in June 1951. Of late in 2020, the author Tripurdaman Singh found it an opportune moment to dig out the relic of the past of amendment in his book titled 'The Sixteen Stormy Days - The Story of the First Amendment to the Constitution of India', published by Penguin Random House. The book investigates predominantly the role of Nehru and the motives of the amendment. But, the propositions of the author seem problematic as they lack support of proven historical facts. This critique attempts to expose the frailty of the propositions as well as their sources. The changes brought in by the first amendment of the Constitution of India is worth examining before venturing to analyse the views presented by the author. Remarkably, the amendments were debated by the ad hoc parliament before the first general election being taken place in independent India. The Parliament was lacking the two houses as envisaged by the constitution at that time. The Constitution (First Amendment) Act, 1951 brought changes to three Articles in part III of the Constitution of India. Article 15 prohibits the state from discriminating citizens on grounds of religion, race, caste, sex and place of birth. The amendment added a fourth clause to Article 15 enabling the state to make special provisions for disadvantaged classes notwithstanding the original Article 15 and Article 29(2). It proffered changes to Article 19(2) and Article 19(6) imposing more restrictions on free speech and on freedom of trade and profession. The amendment incorporated two new provisions namely, Article 31(A) and 31(B) in the Constitution. While Article 31(A) facilitates acquisition of private property by the government, Article 31(B) brought in ninth schedule to the constitution to veil legislations from judicial scrutiny. The first amendment was subjected to many criticisms. Prolific literature was contributed to the subject. Deliberations were made on the necessity, appropriacy and the haste in bringing the amendment as well as on its reverberations. Creation of the Ninth Schedule and veiling the statutes from constitutional challenges were considered as anathema to the constitution. Regarding amendment to Article 15, two views were respectively held by pro and anti-reservationists. Amendment to Article 19(2) also created divergent opinions. While the propertied class criticized amendment to Article 31(A), the socialists supported the move towards attaining social parity. Literature shows that opinions were divergent in the case of changes to different Articles. They confined the discussion to legal aspects of the subject while examining the wisdom of the amendment. Intention or motive of the amendment was not their theme. The book, quite the contrary, claims to unravel disingenuous motives, that triggered the amendment. This forms the theme of the book. It sheds some light on certain unknown aspects of the subject and unveils new information. The work is rich in style, language and articulation. It is commendable for the coherence of ideas and is academically worth reading. Still, the book entails a different note as regards its theme. The author makes some propositions in pursuance of his theme. Nonetheless he could not succeed in establishing such propositions with acceptable evidence. The book is expected to scrutinize the rationale of the amendments and its legal repercussions. Lack of proper judgment on the part of the government to weigh various options than resorting to constitutional amendment can be the core theme of the book. But, in the course of exploration, the author seems to have shifted focus to its political fallout. Thereafter, he was making more political statements than legal. A deliberate attempt is seen to have made to present the first Prime Minister of India, Jawaharlal Nehru in poor light. The political statements, that he attempts to make can be summarized as follows. The Congress as a party and Jawaharlal Nehru as the Prime Minister did show a tendency to decry constitutional values. The Congress and Nehru gave prominence to the social agenda and philosophy of the Congress party than constitutional morality. The ...

A Critical Comment On The Book Sixteen Stormy Days

K. Abdul Jawad

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