NEW DELHI: The exclusion of illustrations by renowned painter Nandalal Bose (1882-1966) from the copies of the Indian Constitution sparked a heated debate in the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday. The BJP accused the Congress party of blacking out the paintings, as they depicted aspects of country’s history that the Congress might prefer to ignore.
JP Nadda, Health Minister and Leader of the House, claimed that the illustrations were omitted from the versions of the Constitution available to the public because the Congress party did not want people to be reminded of the country’s “glorious past.”
The issue was raised when BJP’s Radha Mohan Das Agrawal brought up the matter during a Zero Hour notice, pointing out that copies of the Constitution in circulation do not feature the illustrations by Bose. These illustrations included depictions such as the Unicorn seal of Mohenjodaro, the return of Lord Rama to Ayodhya, Lord Krishna’s sermon to Arjuna from the Mahabharata, and representations of figures like Buddha, Mahavira, Vikramaditya, Bose, Gandhi, and others. Agrawal argued that these illustrations reflect the core ideas of Indian civilisation.
Leader of the Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge responded, stating that although he had read the Constitution, he had never seen illustrations of Lord Krishna or King Vikramaditya in it. Kharge accused Agrawal of trying to create a controversy to undermine Dr BR Ambedkar, the principal architect of the Constitution.
The exchange quickly escalated, with Nadda accusing the Congress of removing the illustrations to keep the public unaware of the nation’s rich history. He called it part of the Congress party’s “hidden agenda.”