Publish Date
4 Sep, 2025
About This Book
The foundational ideas of Indian democracy—fraternity, equality, secularism, justice—are not alien concepts. As this book shows, from the earliest attempt with the ‘Constitution of India Bill’ in 1895, whose authorship is unknown, to the 1925 Commonwealth of India Bill, the Motilal Nehru Constitutional Draft of 1928 and various Congress resolutions to the Constituent Assembly of 1946, we see these basic ideas reiterated again and again. With the adoption of the Constitution, ‘we, the people’ merely affirmed our faith in an idea of freedom that thousands of Indians had fought and died for. Among the many distinguishing features of our Constitution is the role it has played in realizing the promises of the freedom struggle. We see how, creative interpretations by the judiciary aside, it has provided the blueprint for interventions by civil society to protect the citizen from both the brazenness of political power as well as the uncertainties of a developing economy. No wonder, then ....
About The Author
Neera Chandhoke is Distinguished Fellow at the Centre for Equity Studies, New Delhi. She was formerly Professor of Political Science and the Director of the Developing Countries Research Centre at the University of Delhi. She has held several fellowships abroad and has authored many research papers and books. Some of her recent books include Violence in Our Bones (2021), Rethinking Pluralism, Secularism, Tolerance: Anxieties of Co-Existence (2019), Democracy and Revolutionary Politics (2015) and Contested Secessions (2012). She is a frequent contributor to print and online publications such as The Hindu, The Wire, The Indian Express and The Tribune.
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