Who said, "The Constituent Assembly alone can produce a Constitution indigenous to the country and truly and fully representing the will of the people"?

Question

UnlockIAS · Accepted Answer

Correct — A, Mahatma Gandhi. Gandhi consistently held that only a Constituent Assembly, elected on adult franchise, could produce a Constitution that was truly indigenous to India and fully represented the will of its people — as opposed to one framed or imposed through British-controlled processes.

Why the other options are wrong — (b) Ambedkar chaired the Assembly's Drafting Committee and shaped the Constitution's actual text, but this particular argument for why a Constituent Assembly alone could do the job is Gandhi's.  (c) Nehru moved the Objectives Resolution inside the Assembly, but this specific formulation about an 'indigenous' Constitution representing the people's will is attributed to Gandhi.  (d) An early Home Rule Movement leader, not associated with this argument for a Constituent Assembly.

Concept: Mahatma Gandhi argued that only a Constituent Assembly, elected on adult franchise, could produce a Constitution that was genuinely 'indigenous' and represented the will of the whole country, rather than one negotiated with, or imposed by, the British Parliament or a limited electorate. This framing became central to the Congress's demand for a Constituent Assembly through the 1930s and 1940s.

State PCS 2022 Q90 — Indian Polity PYQ with Answer

State PCS 2022 Q90 — Indian Polity PYQ with Answer