The Indian Constitution and the Role Dr B R Ambedkar

India, also known as Bharat, is a Union of States. It is a Sovereign Socialist Secular Democratic
Republic with a parliamentary system of government. The Republic is governed in terms of the
Constitution of India which was adopted by the Constituent Assembly on 26th November, 1949
and came into force on 26th January, 1950.

The Constitution provides for a Parliamentary form of government which is federal in structure
with certain unitary features. The constitutional head of the Executive of the Union is the
President. As per Article 79 of the Constitution of India, the council of the Parliament of the
Union consists of the President and two Houses known as the Council of States (Rajya Sabha)
and the House of the People (Lok Sabha).

Article 74(1) of the Constitution provides that there shall be a Council of Ministers with the
Prime Minister as its head to aid and advise the President, who shall exercise his/her functions
in accordance to the advice. The real executive power is thus vested in the Council of Ministers
with the Prime Minister as its head.

Dr. B.R. Ambedkar was the Chairman of the Drafting Committee which played an important
role in the formation of the Constitution.

Dr. Ambedkar handled the task of presenting the draft constitution, answering various
questions raised on it, and making necessary changes according to the suggestions of the
Constituent Assembly.

Due to his contributions towards the making of the Indian Constitution, Dr. B.R. Ambedkar is
called the Father of the Indian Constitution

Contribution to Constitution Making

The Indian Constitution and its drafting process are often seen as synonymous with Ambedkar.
He is often referred to as the father of the Indian Constitution, and is probably the most well-
known of all Constituent Assembly members.

Ambedkar became a key figure in India’s constitution-making process due to the offices he
held and his interventions and speeches in the Assembly. He was the Chairman of the
Assembly’s most crucial committee – the Drafting Committee and a member of other
important Committees. As its Chairman, he had to defend the Draft Constitution which the
Committee prepared, and therefore intervened in nearly every debate.
On behalf of the Scheduled Caste Federation party, Ambedkar wrote and submitted States and
Minorities to the Constituent Assembly’s Sub-Committee on Fundamental Rights. A mini-
Constitution in itself, States and Minorities framed strong constitutional protection for the
Scheduled Caste community.

When Ambedkar introduced the Draft Constitution on 4 November 1948 to the Assembly, he
defended the inclusion of administrative provisions in the Draft by invoking ‘constitutional
morality’.

On 25 November 1949, a day before the Constitution was adopted, Ambedkar

vehemently argued that India must strive to be a social democracy and not merely a political
democracy. Social democracy, he noted ‘is a way of life which recognizes liberty, equality and
fraternity as the principles of life’.

While defending the inclusion of Directive principles of State Policy in the Draft Constitution,
he argued that while the principles did not have force in law, they were binding. He believed
that they were like instructions regulating the power of the Legislature and Executive for
peace, order and good government. He also felt that periodic elections would enforce these
principles as legislators would be accountable to the people of India.

On the issue of centralisation of power, Ambedkar clarified that the fundamental principle of
federalism is the division of Legislative and Executive powers between the Union and the
States in the Constitution. He reassured that the States were in no way dependent upon the
Union government for their legislative or executive powers and that the Union and States
were co-equals.

Ambedkar stated that in choosing a parliamentary system of governance, the Indian

constitution has prioritised responsibility and accountability over stability.

Ambedkar’s interventions and speeches, on various aspects of the Constitution, were

insightful, well-reasoned and scrupulously researched. This won him the support and respect
of other members of the Assembly, who appreciated his leadership of the constitution-making
project.

He was posthumously given the Bharat Ratna in 1991