The Gandhi Sangrahalaya in Bihar’s capital Patna has put on display one of the original 1,000 copies of the Indian
Reena Sopam, Patna: The Gandhi Sangrahalaya in Bihar’s capital Patna has put on display one of the original 1,000 copies of the Indian Constitution, which was gifted to it in 2017 by former Governor of Tripura, professor Sidheshwar Prasad, who was elected to the Lok Sabha from Nalanda in the first parliamentary elections in 1952, the museum’s joint director Asif said.
These copies were printed at Survey of India’s printing facility in Dehradun using lithograph technique.
The Indian Constitution was adopted by the Constituent Assembly on November 26,1949, and came into force on January 26, 1950.
The Constitution was originally hand written by Prem Behari Narain Raizada in English and by Vasant Krishna Vaidya in Hindi. There were only three copies of this hand written version of the Indian Constitution at that time. Later, 1,000 copies were printed in Dehradun.
“These printed copies were given to parliamentarians and ministers and other eminent leaders of the time. Gandhi Museum did not have this copy in its collection. It was only in 2017 that the former Governor of Tripura donated some of his collections to the museum, including the original copy of the Constitution,” Asif said.
“It’s now one of the most precious possession of the Gandhi Museum. Earlier, people would visit us mainly to see the collection of objects, documents and photographs on Gandhi. These days, many also turn up to take a look at the original copy of the Indian Constitution,” he said.
Apart from Gandhi Museum, Patna Museum in the state capital has three of the original copies. “But these are not available for public viewing these days,” Suman Kumar, curator, Patna Museum, said, adding that Dr Rajendra Prasad gallery, where the copies is kept, is under construction these days.
One of the three copies was donated to Patna Museum by Dr Rajendra Prasad, the first President of the country and president of the Constituent Assembly.
“The other two copies came to us a few years ago. “In fact, these copies were handed over to the museum by the local police which had recovered them in some case,” Kumar said.
The two copies were originally with the family of Mungeri Lal, who was elected MLA in the first Bihar assembly elections and went on to become a minister in the state government.
Yet another copy of the Indian Constitution is at the Sachidanand Sinha Library in Patna, named after the man who was the chairman of the Constituent Assembly.
“But that too is not on public display because of security reasons. It’s a precious collection and needs to be preserved,” said B K Sinha, grandson of Sachidanand Sinha.
“The original final draft of the Indian Constitution still has his signature. To get his signature, the final draft had to be brought to Patna at his residence as Sachidanand Sinha was too week to visit Delhi,” he said.
This printed copy, which was presented to him, later became a part of collection of Sinha library, which he had set up in memory of his wife in 1924.
