First Amendment explained

Amrinder Singh

The book, Sixteen Stormy Days, is the story of the First Amendment to the Constitution. The Congress party had an overwhelming majority after the interim elections. This was the bedrock on which it wanted to bring in reforms furthering Congress’ policies. The book is centered around Jawaharlal Nehru, who during the Freedom Movement fought tooth and nail for civil liberties. He was heralded as a champion of personal freedom in the Constituent Assembly, but after assumption of power had “feet of clay” with “authoritarian instincts”.

The Constitution was a “formidable document” which ushered India into an independent existence “under the best constitutional auspices”. The fundamental rights, so ceremoniously given to every Indian, became the biggest roadblock in the implementation of Congress’ flagship programmes — zamindari abolition, land reform, nationalisation and reservation. Armed with the fundamental rights, tenacious citizens challenged reforms and attempts to regulate free speech before a resolute judiciary.

The author painstakingly gives context to the events which led Nehru to redraft the Constitution. The problem, as the author sees it, was that the Constituent Assembly had debated threadbare the socialist policies of land reform and reservation. The Constitution was drafted by Congress leaders, which was a “social contract” reflecting the vision of the then political society. Therefore, how is it that by October 1950, within nine months of India becoming a republic, the Prime Minister was adamant to redraft the Constitution. The bigger challenge was handling the optics of an amendment after raising citizens’ expectations, that too with a “belligerent press” fiercely confronting any regulation of public discourse.

Drawing on parliamentary debates, the author brings out the boisterous criticisms by parliamentarians and members within the Congress. The book has a chapter dedicated solely to the minutes of the select committee, debates in Parliament and coverage in the press leading up to the fateful day in May 1951 when the First Amendment was passed.

It cleared the path for the Nehruvian revolution and allowed the government to enforce laws with impunity under the infamous Ninth Schedule. It was a “constitutional vault” which made laws immune from judicial scrutiny, giving a free hand to the government.

The Ninth Schedule was an anti-thesis to a democratic setup and the government was accused of drifting away from a policy of respect for private property. It was only half a century later that this diabolical schedule was breached, and the Supreme Court held that judicial review cannot be excluded.

The reservation laws were also given constitutional validation. Dr BR Ambedkar, who in the aftermath of the amendment stated that Part III had been vandalised, played a role in drafting the amendment and did not raise as significant an opposition as was expected. The author states that Nehru had promised reservation for Dalits in public service in return for his consent.

Sedition laws are often referred to as a colonial hangover. This book trashes that myth. It is an uncomfortable reminder that those very persons who led us to the path of independence, ensured that these draconian laws remain entrenched in the statute books.

The book is expertly researched, concise and readable, unburdened by the legal intricacies of various cases. According to Tripurdaman Singh, this was a debilitating blow from which India is yet to recover. The book handholds the readers through the trials and tribulations of a burgeoning republic, blessed with a judiciary and press resisting the urge of the political masters to equip themselves with powers to smother every opposition and criticism.