After getting independence from the slavery of British rule, the biggest challenge for India was to make itself a democratic nation. A country that works in a policy manner not through any foreign queen, king-maharaja, and nawabs, but through representatives elected by the people. Where the executive, judiciary, and legislature work impartially. For this, the Constitution of India was implemented on 26 January 1950.
Baba Saheb Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar played a major role in the making of the Indian Constitution. He is known as the creator of the Constitution. However many people have contributed to drafting the Constitution. To frame the Constitution, a Constituent Assembly was formed, which had a total of 379 members. Along with men, women also had a share in these few people. The Constituent Assembly included 15 women, one of whom was Ammu Swaminathan. Let us know who Ammu Swaminathan was and why she was made a member of the Constituent Assembly.
Biography of Ammu Swaminathan
Ammu Swaminathan was born in 1894 in Anakara in the Palghat district of Kerala. Ammu was the youngest among 13 siblings, hence she received a lot of pampering since childhood. However, Ammu's father Pandit Govinda Menon died in her childhood and her mother raised her and her siblings. In those days, only boys were sent to study away from home, so Ammu could not go to school. But he took some education in Malayalam at home.
Ammu Swaminathan's family life
It is said that Ammu's father helped a boy named Swaminathan in his childhood, and he got a chance to study. Later, Swaminathan pursued higher education with the help of scholarships and started practicing law in Madras. When Swaminathan returned to Anakara village, he got the news of Ammu's father's demise. Swaminathan proposed to Ammu's mother to marry her daughter. All his sisters were married and Ammu was only 13 years old. Swaminathan was almost 20 years older than him. When Ammu's mother refused to marry, Swaminathan spoke to Ammu directly. Ammu put some conditions before Swaminathan like she would live in the city and no questions would ever be asked about her coming and going because no one in her house even questioned her brothers. Swaminathan agreed to all his conditions and married Ammu.
How Ammu Swaminathan joined the freedom movement
However, after marriage, she had to face a lot of problems due to caste discrimination. After marriage in 1908, both of them went abroad and had a court marriage. Swaminathan supported Ammu a lot. A tutor was appointed for him at home so that he could read and learn to speak English. With his inspiration, Ammu later became active in the independence movement and became the main face of the Tamil Nadu Congress in 1934.
Ammu Swaminathan's role in the making of the Constitution
In 1947, Ammu became a member of the Constituent Assembly from the Madras constituency. In her speech to pass the draft Constitution on 24 November 1949, Ammu said, 'People outside are saying that India has not given equal rights to its women. Now we can say that when the Indian people themselves prepared their Constitution, they gave equal rights to women as every other citizen of the country.
(PC: Social media)
