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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 07 May 2024
Independence is not a word which can be used as an exorcism, but an indispensable condition for the existence of men and women who are truly liberated, who are truly masters of all the material means which make possible the radical transformation of society.
—Frantz Fanon, The Wretched of the EarthDemocracy is thirsty, cold, and hungry.
—Michel Chevalier, Des Intérêts Matériels en FranceHe was extraordinarily happy today because he was going to witness with his own eyes the coming of the new constitution. In the morning fog, he went around the broad and narrow streets of the city but everything had the same old and worn-out look. He wanted to see colour and light. There was nothing.
—Sadaat Hasan Manto, ‘The New Constitution’Foreboding and Hope
The long process of drafting the Indian constitution was coming to an end. It was the time for concluding speeches in the Constituent Assembly: members sharing their final thoughts on what they had (or had not) been able to accomplish. Ambedkar had done more than most to shape the text that was now in front of them. His speech would become one of most quoted parts of the assembly debates. ‘If we wish to maintain democracy not merely in form, but also in fact, what must we do?’ Ambedkar asked. This was his answer:
The … thing we must do is not to be content with mere political democracy. We must make our political democracy a social democracy as well. Political democracy cannot last unless there lies at the base of it social democracy.… On the 26th of January 1950 we are going to enter into a life of contradictions. In politics we will have equality and in social and economic life we will have inequality. In politics we will be recognizing the principle of one man one vote and one vote one value. In our social and economic life, we shall, by reason of our social and economic structure, continue to deny the principle of one man one value. How long shall we continue to live this life of contradictions? How long shall we continue to deny equality in our social and economic life? If we continue to deny it for long, we will do so only by putting our political democracy in peril.
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