56 SOCIAL SCIENTIST already set in, producing a consequential class contradiction. Largely fed by the financial assistance of the propertied classes, the Congress had to meet the demands of private property, paying at the same time equal attention to the amelioration of the conditions of the poor workers and peasants which in this underdeveloped country had. already become unbearable.4 The paymasters of the ruling party won the day. Confronted with a steamroller majority against them, the dissenting voices had no chance beyond being heard on the floor of the House. There were no concessions either to the Muslim League or the Akali Dal in the demand for a loose federation. There was a sense of outrage when suggestions arose to declare India a "socialist republic". The very word evoked hostility and the preamble stopped with two attributes for the Indian republic, "sovereign and democratic". Although the Constitution of the Soviet Union was available for inspection, the Constituent Assembly found it too uninspiring to take any serious notice of. The Indian Constitution borrowed generously from the-Government of India Act 1935, (a legacy of the British raj) and the constitutions of capitalist countries such as USA, UK, Australia. Canada and Ireland. Thus the very process of constitution-making left no doubt about the bias of the authors. The product of their labours bears the indelible stamp of its class origin. Safeguards/or Landlords and Monopolists The economic concepts incorporated in llie constitution deserve special attention exposing as they do the class bias beyond any shadow of a doubt. Article 19 (1) (f) declares the right of all citizens to acquire? hold and dispose of property. Although subject to the restrictions imposed-in Article 19 (5) the fact remains that, as a fundamental right, the right to private property to any extent lias been invested with legal sanctity. According to Article 31, individuals may be deprived of their property if a competent legislature enacts a law to that effect. Compulsory expropriation by the state is also permitted with the proviso that the owner is entitled to compensation. While the constitution does not spell it out, the Supreme Court, until recent times, has construed the quantum of compensation as equivalent to the full market value of the property in question. The propertied classes lost nothing in the bargain. The Congress Party was committed long before independence to the abolition of landlordism. After independence, the Constituent Assembly witnessed prolonged debates and heated discussions on whether full compensation should be paid to the landlords. Contrary to all expectations^ the landlords got away with their pound of flesh. The feudal rulers of the erstwhile Indian states were also assured the safety and security of their personal wealth: in return for the accession of their territories to the Union of India, the princes also received handsome rewards in the form of "privy purse" private incomes. For twenty five years after independence,