Origin of Indian Constituent Assembly
Origin of Constituent Assembly in India By the end of the War, as we have seen, India was ready for a constituent assembly and her leaders were demanding one. Gandhi expressed the truth first - that Indians must shape their own destiny, that only in the hands of Indians could India become herself, when in 1922 he said that Swaraj would not be the gift of the British Parliament, but must spring from ' the wishes of the people of India as expressed through their freely chosen representatives '. The demand for a constituent assembly became a part of the official policy of Indian National Congress in 1934. Refusing to accept the White Paper (The Proposal for Indian Constitutional Reform, of 1933) , because it did not express 'the will of the people of India ' , the Congress Working Committee stated : The only alternative to the White Paper is a constitution drawn up by a Constituent Assembly elected on the basis of adult franchise or as a nea...