Table Of ContentFounding Mothers of the
Indian Republic
Gender Politics of the Framing of
the Constitution
Achyut Chetan
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For Maa-Babuji
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As I stand here at the moment, I imagine myself to be somewhat dreaming. Today
the memory of those days comes to my mind when I was a student and perused
the part played by Hamilton, Jefferson and others in framing the Constitution
of the United States of America. Then I used to wonder if there will ever come
a stage when India would emerge from slavery to assume an independent status.
I also wondered if we shall ever be competent to frame our own constitution.
By the grace of Providence that occasion has come and it is my good fortune that
I am indulging in self-praise for being fortunate to play a part Sir, I feel proud to
submit that our Constitution has, at last been framed.
—Durgabai Deshmukh
Provisional Parliament of India, 1 February 1950
From Parliament of India: Official Report of the First Session
of Parliament, Vol. I, 1950, Part II: Proceedings
other than Questions and Answers, p. 82
Lakshmikant Maitra: Do not think that I am a hater of women, that I am a
misogynist, or that I have no feeling for women.
An honourable member: He is a married man.
Lakshmikant Maitra: Yes, I am a married man. I have a humble wife married
according to Hindu Shastric rites, a simple, unsophisticated lady, brought up and
nurtured in the ideas of our Hindu homes.
The Hon’ble B. R. Ambedkar: What a pity!
Lakshmikant Maitra: It is pity! May be. But I have not much of love or liking for
the lavender, lipstick and vanity bag variety of that sex.
Constituent Assembly (Legislative) of India, 1 March 1949, CA(L)D II: 996
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Contents
List of Images xi
Preface xv
Acknowledgements xxi
List of Abbreviations xxvii
Introduction: Towards a Feminist Reading of the
Making of the Constitution 1
1. In the Shadow of the Founding Fathers 14
2. In Search of the Missing Mothers 42
3. Women’s Moral Imaginary and Constitutional Politics: 1927–1946 77
4. Patterns of Participation: Women Members in the
Constituent Assembly 121
5. Writing the Rights: Inscribing Constitutional Morality 167
6. Reformulating the ‘Woman Question’: Challenging
Customs and Traditions 213
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x Contents
7. After the Framing 249
Conclusion: Remembering the Founding Mothers 275
Appendix: Texts and Contexts of the Framing – A Timeline 287
Bibliography 292
Index 308
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Images
I.1 On the same page. Signatures of some members of the
Constituent Assembly. Those clearly identifiable are of Amrit
Kaur, Vallabhbhai Patel, Jagjivan Ram, B. R. Ambedkar, and
Syama Prasad Mookerjee; in the right column are Dakshayani
Velayudhan, and B. Shiva Rao. 2
I.2 A few women amongst men. All members of the Constituent
Assembly sitting together towards the end of the its sessions,
probably around November 1949. 7
1.1 Commemorating plaque for the Constituent Assembly in the
Central Hall of the Parliament. 18
1.2 The Nightingale of India and the Iron Man. Sarojini Naidu
seated and in animated conversation with Vallabhbhai Patel who
is standing during one of the early sessions of the Constituent
Assembly. 25
2.1 The founding mothers. Women members of the Constituent
Assembly seated for a photo session during the framing process.
Back row (standing), from left: Kamala Chaudhari, Sucheta
Kripalani, G. Durgabai, Qudsiya Aizaz Rasul, Purnima Banerji,
Dakshayani Velayudhan. Front row (sitting), from left: Renuka
Ray, Hansa Mehta, Rajkumari Amrit Kaur, Annie Mascarene,
Ammu Swaminathan. 43
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xii Images
2.2 Begum Hamid Ali at the United Nations Commission on
Status of Women, 1948, Second Session, 15 February 1948,
New York. With her is Sara B. de Monzon of Guatemala. The
15-member organ of the United Nations Economic and Social
Council prepares recommendations and reports to the Council
on promoting women’s rights in political, civil, social and
educational fields. 48
2.3 ‘Amrit Kaur: championing an independent India’. Amrit Kaur
on Time magazine’s special cover celebrating 100 exceptional
women since 1920. 55
2.4 Hansa Mehta during an early meeting of the UN Sub-
Commission on the Status of Women, Hunter College, New
York, May 1946. From left to right: Hansa Mehta, India; Way
Sung New, China; Fryderyka Kalinowski, Poland; Angela
Jurdak, Lebanon; Marie Helene Lefaucheux, France; and Bodgil
Begtrup, Denmark and Chairman of the committee. 63
2.5 A ‘Dalit’ wedding. A painting of the wedding ceremony of
Dakshayani and R. Velayudhan presided over by Mahatma
Gandhi and Kasturba. 68
3.1 The princess and the fakir. Amrit Kaur receiving Gandhi on
his arrival at Shimla to meet the Cabinet Mission delegation,
2 May 1946. 79
3.2 Hansa Mehta with J. Marguerite Bowie of the United Kingdom
at the Fifth Session of the Human Rights Commission, 9 May
1949, New York. 87
3.3 Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay and Sarojini Naidu at the Shimla
Conference, 1945. 93
3.4 Hansa Mehta with Carlos Garcia Bauer of Guatemala at a
meeting of the UN Commission on Human Rights, 1 June
1949, New York. 99
3.5 The two champions. Hansa Mehta with Eleanor Roosevelt at
the UN Commission on Human Rights, 1 June 1949, New York. 100
4.1 Hansa Mehta addressing the Constituent Assembly on 15
August 1947. 123
4.2 Jagjivan Ram standing behind Purnima Banerji (left) and
Durgabai (right), while Dakshayani looks on. 131
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Images xiii
4.3 A close-up of the signatures of B. R. Ambedkar and Dakshayani
Velayudhan, among the two most remarkable Dalit members
of the Constituent Assembly. 141
5.1 Aizaz Rasul with B. R. Ambedkar in the Constituent Assembly. 199
6.1 Protecting the daughter. This much-discussed cartoon
published in the 11 December 1949 issue of the Shankar’s Weekly
showing Ambedkar steering the Hindu Code Bill under his
anxious but paternal care through the hostile corridors of history
hardly gets the history right. 225
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