The Forgotten Architect of The Constitution : Sir B N Rau

While Indian history has many unheard and underrated heroes. Today, I will be narrating about someone, who will never be found in your history books. When we search the Indian Freedom struggle, we will get all kinds of political heavyweights from MK Gandhi to JL Nehru for freedom struggle, Dr. Rajendra Prasad as first President and Dr. B.R Ambedkar as constitution maker.

But there also exists a bureaucrat, forgotten and underrated, without whom, Indian Constitution would have not been framed so quickly. Using Babasaheb Ambedkar's own quote "The credit that is given to me does not really belong to me. It belongs partly to Sir B.N. Rau the Constitutional Advisor to the Constituent Assembly who prepared a rough draft of the Constitution for the consideration of the Drafting Committee."

That is correct, today we will shed light on the life and works of Sir BN Rau.

Portrait of Sir BN Rau

An Introduction

Born on 26 February 1887, in Mangalore (Mangaluru), Karnataka, Rau grew up in a family of intellectuals with his father BR Rau being a leading doctor in the city. One of his brothers, Benegal Rama Rau, would go onto become the second Reserve Bank of India governor of Independent India.

Earning a scholarship to the illustrious Trinity College, Cambridge, Rau eventually passed the Indian Civil Service Examination in 1909 and was posted to Bengal for his first assignment. For the next two decades, he would go on serve both in the ICS and the judiciary, serving as a judge in the Calcutta High Court. He retired from the service in 1944, before being appointed as the Prime Minister of the princely state of Jammu and Kashmir.

However, he soon left the job – citing differences with the then Maharaja of Kashmir on issues of policy. Before his tenure as Constitutional Advisor, he served as a Secretary in the Governor-General’s office working on the subject of constitutional reforms.

When he took over the position of Constitutional Advisor and led the establishment of the CAS in July 1946, he laid down firm conditions before the Constituent Assembly.

Role In Constitution Building

B. N. Rau was appointed as the Constitutional Adviser to the Constituent Assembly in formulating the Indian Constitution in 1946. He was responsible for the general structure of its democratic framework of the Constitution and prepared its initial draft in February 1948. This draft was debated, revised, and finally adopted by the Constituent Assembly of India on 26 November 1949.

As part of his research in drafting the Constitution of India, in 1946, Rau traveled to the US, Canada, Ireland, and the United Kingdom, where he had personal consultations with judges, scholars, and authorities on constitutional law. Amongst others, he met Justice Felix Frankfurter of the American Supreme Court, who famously advised him against the inclusion of a clause for 'due process' in the Indian Constitution as it would impose an 'undue burden' on the judiciary. No wonder the Indian Constitution today has so many features borrowed from different countries, BN Rau himself 

The Constituent Assembly's resolution setting up the Drafting Committee on August 29, 1947, under the chairmanship of B. R. Ambedkar, declared that it was being set up to "Scrutinise the Draft of the text of the Constitution prepared by the Constitutional Adviser, give into effect the decisions taken already in the Assembly and include all matters ancillary thereto or which have to be provided in such a Constitution, and to submit to the Assembly for consideration the text of the Draft Constitution as revised by the Committee." 

Group Photo of the people involved with Constituent Assembly

The draft prepared by the constitutional advisor was submitted in October 1947. Along with this draft, the proposals offered by the various other committees set up by the Constituent Assembly were considered and the first draft by the Drafting Committee was published in February 1948. The people of India were given eight months to discuss the draft and propose amendments. In the light of the public comments, criticisms, and suggestions, the Drafting Committee prepared a second draft, which was published in October 1948. The final draft of the Constitution was introduced by Dr. B. R. Ambedkar on November 4, 1948 (first reading). The second reading was clause by clause consideration and took over a year. After three drafts and three readings, the constitution was declared as passed on November 26, 1949. 

Legacy

Despite him being one of the pillars of our constitution, still, when we ask anyone to name some people they associate with the Indian constitution, some will say BR Ambedkar, some might even say Dr. Rajendra Prasad but hardly anyone will say, BN Rau. 

Postage Stamp on Sir BN Rau

Indian Government did issue a memorial postage stamp on his birthday but the common masses still don't know him despite his immense contribution to the very framework of the Nation. 

Rau was invited by the Ministry of External Affairs to stand for election to the International Court of Justice towards the end of 1951 and began service towards 1952. He served for about a year, before succumbing to ill health while being treated in Zurich in 1953. In 1988, On the occasion of his birth centenary, the Govt. of India issued a postage stamp in honor of B.N. Rau