A quiet revisionism in constitutional history is being seeded. Some commentators now argue that Sir Benegal Narsing Rau, the Constitutional Adviser to the Constituent Assembly, was the real architect of India’s Constitution, while Dr. Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar, the Chairman of the Drafting Committee, merely polished an already finished product. This argument may sound academic, but it is not. It represents an attempt to diminish Dalit agency in India’s founding story and to erase the moral force that B.R. Ambedkar brought to the making of the Republic.

Complementary, not competing

Both men were indispensable to the Constitution’s creation, but their roles were entirely different. Sir B.N. Rau, a distinguished civil servant and jurist, was appointed Constitutional Adviser in July 1946. His a

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