"Who was going to tell the people that the word of the government and the prime minister was not the law, that there was now a greater power, the Constitution of India?" writes Tripurdaman Singh in his fascinating slice of history book, Sixteen Stormy Days. The issues of land reform and reservations – both extensively discussed during the drafting of the Constitution and the Congress party’s flagship programmes – were now at risk of being struck down by the judiciary as unconstitutional.īoth were populist measures, and the Congress and Nehru knew that having raised the expectations of the people and asking them to believe in the promises the leaders had made, it would be tough to go back to the people and explain the legal and constitutional niceties. Several problems were staring in the eye of the Congress party barely months after it had assumed power in India under his leadership. Jawaharlal Nehru was in a quandry of sorts.
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