. Defining Rights How were the rights of individual citizens to be defined? Were the oppressed groups to have any special rights? What rights would minorities have?
Who, in fact, could be defined as a minority? As the debate on the floor of the Constituent Assembly unfolded, it was clear that there were no collectively shared answers to any of these questions. The answers were evolved through the clash of opinions and the drama of individual encounters. In his inaugural speech, Nehru had invoked the “will of the people” and declared that the makers of the Constitution had to fulfil “the passions that lie in the hearts of the masses”.
This was no easy task. With the anticipation of Independence, different groups expressed their will in different ways, and made different demands. These would have to be debated and conflicting ideas would have to be reconciled, before a consensus could be forged. .
The problem with separate electorates On August , B. Pocker Bahadur from Madras made a powerful plea for continuing separate electorates. Minorities exist in all lands, argued Bahadur; they could not be wished away, they could not be “erased out of existence”. The need was to create a political framework in which minorities could live in harmony with others, and the differences between communities could be minimised.
This was possible only if minorites were well represented within the political system, their voices heard, Ü Discuss... What were the ideas outlined by Jawaharlal Nehru in his speech on the Objectives Resolution?