The foundational ideas of Indian democracy—fraternity, equality, secularism, \njustice—are not alien concepts. As this book shows, from the earliest attempt \nwith the ‘Constitution of India Bill’ in 1895, whose authorship is unknown, \nto the 1925 Commonwealth of India Bill, the Motilal Nehru Constitutional \nDraft of 1928 and various Congress resolutions to the Constituent Assembly \nof 1946, we see these basic ideas reiterated again and again. With the adoption \nof the Constitution, ‘we, the people’ merely affirmed our faith in an idea of \nfreedom that thousands of Indians had fought and died for. \nAmong the many distinguishing features of our Constitution is the role it \nhas played in realizing the promises of the freedom struggle. We see how, \ncreative interpretations by the judiciary aside, it has provided the blueprint for \ninterventions by civil society to protect the citizen from both the brazenness \nof political power as well as the uncertainties of a developing economy. No \nwonder, then, that in the decades since Independence, the Constitution has \nbecome our very identity as Indians. For all its shortcomings, it has held our \ndemocracy together, and the people have, likewise, stepped up in its defence \nwhen needed, like they did in 2019 to protest the ominous amendments to \nthe Citizenship Act. \nIn this lucid yet passionately argued essay, distinguished scholar of political \nscience Neera Chandhoke shows us why our Constitution is as much a \npolitical and moral document as it is a legal one, and as Indian as the republic \nit created.