Which of the following is NOT True of the 'Objectives Resolution'?

The ideas and provisions of the Constitution introduced in India could be derived from colonial past.

The correct answer is Option (4) → The ideas and provisions of the Constitution introduced in India could be derived colonial past.

Option 1- It proclaimed India to be an 'Independent Sovereign Republic'. (TRUE)
Option 2- It guaranteed its citizens justice, equality and freedom. (TRUE)
Option 3- Nehru located history of Constitution-making in India within a longer history of struggle for liberty and freedom. (TRUE)
Option 4- The ideas and provisions of the Constitution introduced in India could be derived from colonial past. (FALSE)

Explanation:

On 13 December 1946, Jawaharlal Nehru introduced the “Objectives Resolution” in the Constituent Assembly. It was a momentous resolution that outlined the defining ideals of the Constitution of Independent India, and provided the framework within which the work of constitution-making was to proceed. It proclaimed India to be an “Independent Sovereign Republic”, guaranteed its citizens justice, equality and freedom, and assured that “adequate safeguards shall be provided for minorities, backward and tribal areas, and Depressed and Other Backward Classes … ” After outlining these objectives, Nehru placed the Indian experiment in a broad historical perspective. As he spoke, he said, his mind went back to the historic efforts in the past to produce such documents of rights.

Nehru’s speech (Source 1) merits careful scrutiny. What exactly was being stated here? What did Nehru’s seemingly nostalgic return to the past reflect? What was he saying about the origin of the ideas embodied in the vision of the Constitution? In returning to the past and referring to the American and French Revolutions, Nehru was locating the history of constitution-making in India within a longer history of struggle for liberty and freedom. The momentous nature of the Indian project was emphasised by linking it to revolutionary moments in the past. But Nehru was not suggesting that those events were to provide any blueprint for the present; or that the ideas of those revolutions could be mechanically borrowed and applied in India.