How the Tamil Nadu legislature, in the late 1940s, viewed the making of the Constitution

J. Sivashanmugam Pillai, who was the first Scheduled Caste to hold the office of Speaker in the State, wrote to Secretary of the Constituent Assembly H. V. R. Iyengar, asking for a copy of the draft Constitution | Photo Credit: The Hindu Archives About 10 years ago, in the run-up to the making of the Constitutional amendment and the enabling laws regarding the Goods and Services Tax (GST) of 2017, several States, especially Tamil Nadu, which was led by Jayalalithaa till December 2016, had placed various demands in defence of their rights. Some of the demands were conceded and incorporated in the final version of the Constitutional and legislative framework. But, this attitude of States wanting to have their say in matters of constitutional and legal importance is nothing new.In the Constituent Assembly’s debates (1946-49), K. Santhanam and N.G. Ranga, both from southern States representing the present Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh, had strongly argued against any attempt to make the Central government more powerful under the garb of expanding the Concurrent List. Published - January 07, 2026 06:30 am IST