The Birth of Pakistan and the Making of the Indian Constitution, 1940–50

In conventional histories of the making of the Indian constitution, the story of the birth of Pakistan hardly finds a prominent place. Often the partition of the subcontinent is considered merely as a minor interruption in the larger process of Indian constitution making. Instead, I suggest that we need to locate the birth of Pakistan at the heart of the making of the Indian constitution as it determined not only the progress of constitutional developments from 1940-46 but also shaped post-partitioned India’s understanding of the state, secularism, and federalism to mention only a few. By revisiting the debates around constitutional developments from the moment of Lahore resolution through the constituent assembly debates in India, this paper seeks to question the enduring consensus that Indian constitution making was essentially an embodiment of Indian nationalism. In particular, the paper highlights the ways in which the movement for Pakistan problematized a synchronous relationship between a putative Indian nationalism with Indian constitutionalism. Attending to the birth of Pakistan, this paper argues, provides fresh insights into the de-synchronous relationship between constitutionalism and nationalism, which was an integral part of the making of the Indian constitution.