Ambedkar and the Constitution of India
The world's longest written constitution, universal suffrage from day one, and untouchability outlawed
Quick facts
- Came into effect
- 26 January 1950
- Drafting committee chair
- B. R. Ambedkar
- Length
- The longest constitution in the world
- Provisions
- Universal adult suffrage; untouchability abolished
What happened
The new republic wrote itself a founding document. A Constituent Assembly, with its drafting committee chaired by B. R. Ambedkar, a jurist and leader of India's formerly untouchable communities, produced the Constitution of India. Harvard's Center on the Legal Profession notes that his part in the drafting of the Indian Constitution between 1946 and 1950 has received considerable attention, and demonstrates why Dr Ambedkar is rightly called the Father of the Indian Constitution. On January 26, 1950, the Indian Constitution, the longest in the world, came into effect, making India a sovereign democratic republic. It granted universal adult suffrage at once and abolished untouchability. As one scholar puts it, the makers of the Indian Constitution instituted universal suffrage amid poverty, illiteracy, social heterogeneity, and centuries of tradition.
Why it matters
India chose to be a democracy with universal suffrage from its first day, in a poor and largely illiterate society, a gamble few expected to hold. That it became and remained the world's largest democracy rests on this document, and on Ambedkar's insistence that political freedom without social equality would not last.
How we know
Ambedkar's role and the Constitution's adoption are documented by Harvard Law School's Center on the Legal Profession and in scholarly work published through Columbia Law School, alongside the Constituent Assembly's own records.
Sources
- Harvard Law School, Center on the Legal Profession. The Foresighted Ambedkar · Reputable sourceclp.law.harvard.edu · The domain "clp.law.harvard.edu" is on our Reputable source registry. · Link is live and its text matches the event's key terms (Jul 2026)
- Madhav Khosla (Columbia Law School scholarship). India's Founding Moment: The Constitution of a Most Surprising Democracy · Reputable sourcescholarship.law.columbia.edu · The domain "scholarship.law.columbia.edu" is on our Reputable source registry. · Link is live and its text matches the event's key terms (Jul 2026)
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