Shaping the Future

Constituent assemblies represent the constituent power of the people who desire to give themselves a constitution to protect their individual and collective rights and tie down the hands of the government. In small-sized states, there is no concept of a Constituent Assembly, as people directly participate in the constitution-making process. But such a process is untenable in large states. In 1947, the state of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) decided to draft its own constitution after entering into a conditional accession with the Union of India. The Constituent Assembly was finally convened in 1951, composed of 75 members, all of whom belonged to the popular political party, the National Conference. This chapter introduces the Constituent Assembly, the ideological and political context of its formation and composition, its functioning as evident in the Constituent Assembly debates and the themes that formed the core concern of these debates.