Sixteen Stormy Days: The Story of the First Amendment to the Constitution of India

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Tripurdaman Singh

Sixteen Stormy Days

The Story of the First Amendment to the Constitution of India

Tripurdaman Singh

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Hardback

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English

Bloomsbury Academic
25 January 2024

Asian history; Postwar 20th century history, from c 1945 to c 2000; Legal history; Constitutional & administrative law

Winner of the Ramnath Goenka Award 2020

On 26th January 1950 India became a republic, shedding its last links with its colonial past and inaugurating a new era of liberty and freedom. With fundamental rights and civil liberties guaranteed by the state, the new constitution was universally acclaimed as the ‘world’s greatest experiment in liberal government’.

This idealistic birth of a new republic meant a clean break with a repressive past. And yet, barely twelve months later, the very makers of the constitution were denouncing their own creation. Passed in June 1951, the First Amendment to the Constitution was a pivotal moment in Indian constitutional history.

Sixteen Stormy Days explores the contentious legacy of this First Amendment which drastically curbed freedom of speech, restricted freedom against discrimination and circumscribed the right to property.

It follows the sixteen days of debate that led up to it, the people that created it, the great battle waged against it and the immense consequences it has had for Indian democracy. It is a cautionary tale about an almost forgotten but hugely consequential piece of history that holds the key to understanding the position of civil liberties and individual freedoms in India today. It challenges conventional wisdom on iconic figures such as Jawaharlal Nehru, B.R. Ambedkar, Rajendra Prasad, Sardar Patel and Shyama Prasad Mookerji, and lays bare the vast gulf between the liberal promise of India’s Constitution and the authoritarian impulses of her first government.

By: Tripurdaman Singh
Imprint: Bloomsbury Academic
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 220mm, Width: 140mm, Spine: 28mm
Weight: 481g
ISBN: 9781350384385
ISBN 10: 1350384380
Pages: 272
Publication Date: 25 January 2024
Audience: Professional and scholarly , College/higher education , General/trade , Undergraduate , Primary
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

Introduction 1. The Build Up 2. Will the People Wait 3. The Deepening Crisis 4. The Gathering Storm 5. The Clouds Burst 6. The Battle Rages 7. The Aftermath Notes Index

Tripurdaman Singh is a British Academy Postdoctoral Fellow at the Institute of Commonwealth Studies, University of London, UK. Born in Agra, Uttar Pradesh, Tripurdaman read politics and international studies at the University of Warwick, and subsequently earned an MPhil in modern South Asian studies and a PhD in history from the University of Cambridge, UK. He has been a visiting fellow at the University of Leiden in the Netherlands and an Indian Council of Historical Research Fellow in India. A Fellow of the Royal Historical Society and a Fellow of the Royal Asiatic Society, Tripurdaman's books include Imperial Sovereignty and Local Politics (2019) and Nehru (2022).

Reviews for Sixteen Stormy Days: The Story of the First Amendment to the Constitution of India

A page-turner --Soutik Biswas, India Correspondent, BBC Exhaustively researched... very readable... --Open Magazine A compelling read --Firstpost History written as thriller... exceptional --LiveMint A scintillating examination of the First Amendment... Brings the legacies of Nehru and Modi uncomfortably close... --The Telegraph Extremely well researched, beautifully written and qualitatively brilliant --Comparative Constitutional Law and Administrative Law Journal ...simply written, yet riveting account will appeal to legal and academic scholars, as well as a wide readership of interested citizens --South Asia Research