K.M. Munshi: Constitution-Maker and Somnath’s Rebuilder

He helped draft the Constitution. He wrote novels under a pen name. He rebuilt a temple that the Prime Minister did not want the government to touch.

K.M. Munshi lived several lives at once. He was a lawyer, an author, a teacher, a minister and a governor. Each role needs its own place in your notes.

1Who was K.M. Munshi?

Kanaiyalal Maneklal Munshi was born on 30 December 1887 at Bharuch in Gujarat. He studied at Baroda College. One of his teachers was Aurobindo Ghose.

He took a law degree in Bombay in 1910 and practised in the Bombay High Court. In the freedom movement he joined Home Rule, then Gandhi’s campaigns. He was jailed in the civil disobedience movement.

In 1937 he became Home Minister of Bombay Presidency. He also wrote in Gujarati, Hindi and English. His Gujarati books carry the pen name Ghanshyam Vyas. His novel Jay Somnath came out in 1940.

Why does his early path matter? Many of his later roles grew from it. The lawyer learned to argue a case. The writer learned to tell a story. The student of Aurobindo learned to link culture with politics.

• Born 30 December 1887 at Bharuch.
• Lawyer; Home Minister of Bombay Presidency from 1937.
• Pen name Ghanshyam Vyas.
• Wrote the novel Jay Somnath in 1940.

2What did he do in the Constituent Assembly?

Munshi joined the Constituent Assembly. He sat on the Drafting Committee, chaired by B.R. Ambedkar. He also served on the Advisory Committee and the Fundamental Rights group.

He sent a draft note on fundamental rights in 1947. The rights group debated such papers before the full Assembly decided. The Assembly’s own archive lists him on sixteen committees and subcommittees.

That fact matters. No single member wrote the Constitution alone. It was shaped by many committees and by long debate.

In 1947 he also sat on the ad hoc committee that chose the national flag.

• Member of the Drafting Committee under Ambedkar.
• Sent a draft on fundamental rights.
• Listed on sixteen committees and subcommittees.
• Served on the flag committee in 1947.
• Read about the Drafting Committee and Fundamental Rights.

3Why did Somnath cause a dispute?

After independence, Munshi helped organise the rebuilding of the Somnath temple. Sardar Patel backed the project. The foundation stone was laid on 8 May 1950.

Patel died in December 1950. He did not see the temple reopen. President Rajendra Prasad performed the installation ceremony on 11 May 1951. Munshi took part.

Prime Minister Nehru objected. He did not want the government to look like it was building a religious place. He also asked about public money spent by the Saurashtra government.

So the dispute was about public office, public funds and a secular state. It was not a claim that Nehru opposed all private worship.

Why was Somnath so symbolic? The old temple on the Gujarat coast had been raided and rebuilt many times. For many Indians, its revival after independence stood for national self-respect. For others, it raised hard questions about the state and religion.

• Foundation stone: 8 May 1950.
• Patel died in December 1950.
• Rajendra Prasad performed the ceremony on 11 May 1951.
• Nehru objected to government involvement.
• Read about Sardar Patel.

4What was Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan?

Munshi set up Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan on 7 November 1938 in Bombay, with Harshidbhai Divatia and his wife Lilavati Munshi. Gandhi supported it.

It aimed to study Indian languages, history, arts and thought. It also built schools and colleges. Munshi saw education as a way to carry culture across generations.

He had also helped found other schools. A founder is not the same as the person who runs every later school. Many teachers did that work.

The Bhavan shows a second side of Munshi. Politics took him to office. The Bhavan let him shape how young people learned about their own heritage. Many of its schools and colleges still run today.

• Founded Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan in 1938.
• Aim: Indian languages, history and arts.
• Co-founded with Harshidbhai Divatia and Lilavati Munshi.

5What did he do later?

In 1948 he was India’s Agent-General in Hyderabad, during the dispute over the state’s future. From 1950 to 1952 he was Union Minister for Food and Agriculture.

In 1950 he began Van Mahotsav, the tree-planting week held each July. He moved an earlier “Grow More Trees” drive to the first week of July and renamed it.

He was Governor of Uttar Pradesh in the early to mid 1950s. Sources give 1952 to 1957 or 1953 to 1958, so quote only the decade.

He later left the Congress and joined the Swatantra Party, around 1959 to 1960. Sources differ on whether he counts as a founder. In 1964 he took part in meetings that led to the Vishva Hindu Parishad.

The Hyderabad posting was delicate. The Nizam had not yet joined India. Munshi was the Union’s man in the capital during those tense months. He reported on events until the state acceded in 1948.

• Agent-General in Hyderabad, 1948.
• Union Minister for Food and Agriculture, 1950 to 1952.
• Started Van Mahotsav in 1950.
• Governor of Uttar Pradesh in the 1950s.
• Read about C. Rajagopalachari.

6What are the exam traps?

• Patel was dead before the 1951 ceremony. Prasad performed it.
• Munshi was one of many drafters, not the author of the Constitution.
• His governorship came after independence.
• Do not call him the sole founder of the Swatantra Party.