Untangling Colonial Knots: Reflecting on Arghya Sengupta's, The Colonial Constitution - An Origin Story

Aditya Rawat in the wake of ongoing debates about decolonization and the search for a uniquely indigenous constitutional narrative, reviews Arghya Sengupta’s ‘The Colonial Constitution – An Origin Story’ which has emerged as a provocative intervention. Rawat’s review thoughtfully engages with Sengupta’s central thesis—that India’s constitutional framework, far from being a pristine product of post-colonial aspiration, is deeply entangled with colonial knots that continue to influence its interpretation and practice. Rawat situates Sengupta’s work against a backdrop of persistent calls for decolonial constitutionalism, where even celebrated texts are re-examined through the lens of historical subjugation and epistemic dominance. In doing so, the review opens a critical dialogue on whether the colonial inheritance of legal structures necessitates a complete reimagining of India’s constitutional identity, or if it can be reclaimed and repurposed to serve contemporary democratic aspirations. This introduction sets the stage for a nuanced exploration of the work’s merits and its limitations, inviting readers to rethink the origins—and the future—of India’s constitutional order.

CALJ Volume IX issue I_Untangling Colonial Knots.pdf

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