Moment of Utopia

In 1946, Rau was appointed as the Constitutional Advisor to the newly formed Constituent Assembly. In this capacity, Rau collated and solicited constitutional ideas from members of the Constituent Assembly and put forward his own as well. In these drafts, one gets a clear sense of Rau’s constitutional thoughts, which was a direct response to the political conflicts that unfolded outside the Constituent Assembly. Rau saw the constitution only as a means to an end, which was ‘development’. In pursuit of this goal, Rau wished for a largely powerful head of the state with wide discretionary powers and a legislature and executive that would be committed to ideas of development. While protecting minority interests were paramount, perhaps, most controversially, Rau privileged the Directive Principles—ideas that needed to guide the lawmakers—rather than the granting of Fundamental Rights.