The constitution that an independent India adopted 75 years ago under the guidance of Dr BR Ambedkar is considered one of the most celebrated works of modern times.

The Indian Constitution gave India an unmatched level of dignity where a nation’s commitment to its subject is explored and explained most vividly under a democratic secular social framework. Having said that, this can also be pointed out with no hesitation that the framing of India’s constitution was also in the line of a political party’s (read Indian National Congress) pre-set agenda.

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Interestingly, in colonised India, the idea of framing a constitution of free India was not only in the mind of Congress leaders who were almost sure that once the British era ended, the power would also only come to them, rather it was nursed by some of the smaller parties as well- Hindu Mahasabha (HMS), the radical Hindu organisation and a party with huge political aspirations from 1937 under Vinayak D Savarkar, the legendary revolutionary whose trial in the hands of the British once rocked the judicial system of Europe and India.

After serving his imprisonment in various forms for 27 long years, Savarkar finally had an unconditional release from the British in 1937 and soon joined HMS as its president. Savarkar in 1937 was a heartbroken man. He felt it was better than anyone else that the glorious sacrifice and suffering of unimaginable physical and mental torture executed on him had a very mild effect on the minds of mass who were almost intoxicated by Gandhi’s politics of non-violence very smartly blended with a pinch of communal salt a recipe Gandhi mastered better than anyone else. This frustration of missing the political limelight tempted Savarkar to make HMS an overly aggressive, candid and anti-Gandhi party with its clear agenda to protect Hindu interest. At the same time, he felt it best that unless HMS became a mainstream political party like the Communist Party of India, Congress Socialist Party, Muslim League, etc, it would never emerge as a true alternative to Congress to Hindu citizens of India. In 1937, Savarkar, who was then the intellectual fountainhead of Hindu nationalism, made it clear that Hindu Mahasabha is not a Hindu Dharma Sabha but a Hindu Rashtra Sabha. This cemented his political idea of making every Hindu a political Hindu and making India a Hindu Rashtra, the home of Hindu jati and living on the basis of Hindu Sanskriti. Savarkar’s book “Elements of Hindutva” defined a very complex definition of Hindu nation and Hindu culture.

With all these, Savarkar, whose party contested in the 1937 election and had its considerable number of seats, was adamant to challenge Gandhi’s Congress in every single aspect. How independent India would look as far as its citizens’ rights are concerned was important for Savarkar to push his party in the race with Congress and the Muslim League, and an alternative constitution from HMS was more than essential an instrument before Congress.

Savarkar came to Calcutta in December 1939 to attend the All India Hindu Mahasabha conference, and in his long presidential address delivered on 29 December 1939 from the stage erected at Deshbandhu Park of north Calcutta, he made the world astonished when he announced drafting of a constitution of free India.

In that meeting in Calcutta, Savarkar neither could form a team to draft a constitution of free India nor was he able to show the work that was needed for such projects. However, he was strong in his expression to give a possible outline of a future India, a country he in his entire speech referred to as “Independent Hindusthan”.

One who reads the Calcutta Presidential speech of Savarkar delivered in Calcutta will be surprised at how clear and candid he was in his conceptualisation to see India once she was free from the shackles of slavery and once she found her place in a post-war world.

No one expected that Savarkar would give a hint of introducing a draft of the constitution once India was free. Political observers expected that his Calcutta speech would mainly focus on the Hindu-Muslim issue, Subhash Chandra Bose’s exit from Congress and his new political moves, communal tensions across India, Muslim League’s atrocities and Gandhi’s Muslim appeasement policies causing harm to Hindu interest, etc. Savarkar left the delegation stunt when in the middle of his speech he moved to the context of the national constitution of Hindusthan which as per him was aimed at the broad principle that all citizens should have equal rights and obligations irrespective of caste or creed, race or religion provided they avow and owe as exclusive and devoted allegiance to the Hindusthan state. Savarkar added “…The fundamental right of liberty of speech, liberty of conscience of worship, of association, etc., will be enjoyed by all citizens alike. Whatever restrictions will be imposed on them in the interest of the public peace and order of national emergency will not be based on any religious or racial consideration alone but on common national interest”.

This was just unexpected from an organisation like Hindu Mahasabha, which had made it clear that protecting Hindu interests was its fundamental agenda.

Dr Arghya Sengupta in his book “Colonial Constitution” has written a clear contradiction of Savarkar’s Calcutta speech and the basic purpose of his book “Essentials of Hindutva”. Sengupta writes “…..This was a deviation from the theory of Hindutva, where even despite such allegiance being declared, a Muslim or Christian could not claim equal citizenship since their holy land factually remained elsewhere.”

However, Sengupta has given a clear explanation of such a surprising twist in Savarkar’s speech. He writes “This deviation was not unintentional – the entire edifice of Savarkar’s constitutional vision was the political acceptability of the Hindu Mahasabha as a mainstream political party. The radical nature of Hindutva ideology would now have to be toned down in an attempt to take on the Congress as the leading force in nationalist politics.”

Though the entire Deshbandhu park roared with non-stop applauses of the speech delivered by the president, a doubt was born there itself among many of the top leaders of HMS about the final shape of this constitutional draft.

Savarkar waited a few more years and finally in 1944 his last year as president of HMS he formed a team of 4 legal experts to draft a constitution of independent Hindusthan.

(to be continued…)

The writer is a freelance contributor