Previous Year Question
Who among the following urged his colleagues to realise that the Constituent Assembly was British-made and was “working the British plans as the British wanted them to be worked out”?
Correct Answer: C
Detailed Solution
Constituent Assembly member Somnath Lahiri strongly criticised the Constituent Assembly and the framework created by the Cabinet Mission Plan.
During the debate on the Objectives Resolution on 19 December 1946, Lahiri argued that the Constituent Assembly had been constituted within a British-designed framework and expressed concern that if Indian political parties continued to operate within the limits imposed by the British plan, genuinely free constitution-making would not be possible. The original record of the Constituent Assembly Debates contains his description of the Assembly as British-made and functioning according to the British plan.
Lahiri further argued that ultimate political power had not yet fully passed into Indian hands. He referred to British military, economic and financial control while questioning the complete sovereignty of the Assembly at that stage.