Sixteen Stormy Days: The Story of the First Amendment of the Constitution of India (Ramnath Goenka award winner)

Book Details

• Publisher: Vintage Books

• Author: Tripurdaman Singh

• Language: English

• Edition: 2021

• ISBN: 9780143454731

• Pages: 288

• Cover: Paperback

• Package Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.2 x 1.1 inches

About the Book
"Sixteen Stormy Days" narrates the riveting story of the First Amendment to the Constitution of India—an event that marked a pivotal moment in the political and constitutional history of India. Passed in June 1951, the amendment was met with tremendous opposition both within and outside Parliament. It sparked some of independent India's fiercest parliamentary debates. The amendment drastically curtailed freedom of speech, allowed caste-based reservation by restricting rights against discrimination, circumscribed the right to property, validated the abolition of the zamindari system, and created a special schedule for unconstitutional laws immune to judicial challenge.

This momentous change occurred just months before India’s first general elections. The First Amendment laid the groundwork for profound changes to the Constitution, in response to an expansively liberal document that posed an obstacle to many of the Congress Party's socio-economic plans. The amendment became a vehicle for Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru to reassert executive supremacy, marking a decisive turn towards a constitutional architecture that would foster repression and coercion.

What led the Prime Minister, who had once championed the Constitution, to amend it so radically after just sixteen days of debate? "Sixteen Stormy Days" delves into this extraordinary set of events, drawing on parliamentary debates, press reports, judicial pronouncements, official correspondence, and existing scholarship. The book challenges conventional wisdom surrounding iconic figures like Nehru, B.R. Ambedkar, Rajendra Prasad, Sardar Patel, and Shyama Prasad Mookerji, while uncovering the significant tension between the liberal promise of India’s Constitution and the authoritarian tendencies of its first government.