I begin this write-up by quoting an interesting and educative WhatsApp message:

“How many Indians (educated people, scholars, teachers, social/human rights activists) know that the Constitution of India was written by hand. No instrument was used to write the whole Constitution. Prem Bihari Narayan Rayzada, a resident of Delhi, wrote this huge book, the entire Constitution, in italic style with his own hands.

“Prem Bihari was a famous calligraphy writer of that time. He was born on 16 December 1901 in the family of a renowned handwriting researcher in Delhi. He lost his parents at a young age. He was taken care of by his grandfather Ram Prasad Saxena and uncle Chatur Bihari Narayan Saxena. His grandfather was a calligrapher. He was a scholar of Persian and English. He taught Persian to high-ranking officials of the British government.

“Ram Prasad used to teach calligraphy to Prem Bihari from an early age for beautiful handwriting. After graduating from St. Stephen's College, Delhi, Prem Bihari started practicing calligraphy art learned from his grandfather. Gradually his name began to spread. When the Constitution was ready for printing, then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru summoned Prem Bihari. Nehru wanted to write the Constitution in handwritten calligraphy in italic letters instead of printing it. 

“When Prem Bihari approached him, Nehruji asked him to handwrite the Constitution in italic style and asked him what fee he would take. Prem Bihari told Nehruji, “Not a single penny. By the grace of God, I have all the things and I am quite happy with my life.” After saying this, he made a request to Nehruji, "I have one reservation -- that on every page of the Constitution I will write my name and on the last page I will write my name along with my grandfather's name." Nehruji accepted his request. He was given a house to write the Constitution. Sitting there, Premji wrote the manuscript of the entire Constitution.

Before he started writing, Prem Bihari came to Shantiniketan on 29 November 1949 with the then President of India, Rajendra Prasad, at the behest of Nehruji. They discussed with the famous painter Nandalal Basu and decided how and with what part of the leaf Prem Bihari would write, Nandalal Basu would decorate the rest of the blank part of the leaf.

Nandalal Bose and some of his students from Shantiniketan filled these gaps with impeccable imagery. Mohenjo-daro seals, Ramayana, Mahabharata, Life of Gautam Buddha, Promotion of Buddhism by Emperor Ashoka, Meeting of Vikramaditya, Emperor Akbar and Mughal Empire. 

Prem Bihari needed 432 pen holders to write the Constitution and he used nib number 303. The nibs were brought from England and Czechoslovakia. He wrote the manuscript of the entire Constitution for six months in a room in the Constitution Hall of India. 251 pages of parchment paper had to be used to write the Constitution. The weight of the Constitution is 3 kg 650 grams. It is 22 inches long and 16 inches wide.” 

Prem Bihari, who did this marvellous job, died on February 17, 1986. As his death anniversary is fast approaching, the spontaneous questions that come to mind are: How many Indians will remember this person at least on his death anniversary? Will the government organise a small ceremony or function in honour of this great person and his family?  

Indeed, great works were done by freedom fighters like Mahatma Gandhi, Nehru, Patel, Netaji, VOC Chidambaram, Subramani Bharathi, Bhagat Singh, Rabindranath Tagore and political leaders like Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi and the Congress Party. They had laid a strong foundation in all sectors and prepared a clear roadmap in order to make India a progressing nation. But, what do we witness today? It is sad to note that the government at the Centre is trying to destroy the past of India. 

The recent happenings raise certain valid questions: Can any sensible Indian, any politician or political party deny that India was under the British rule? Can we forget our colonial past? Can we erase easily the good and bad things that happened during the British period? Can we hide the present Parliament building by constructing a new Central Vista building? If so, why the existing palatial Rashtrapathi Bhavan is left untouched? Does it not bear the stamp of the colonial past?

The ruling party or its allies never made any constructive contribution during the freedom struggle. In fact, the hardcore leaders of RSS asked pardon from the British officers and kept themselves away from the freedom fight. Why should they try to mitigate the colonial past that does not fit into Hindutva ideology and impose their own narrow ideas? 

The classic example is the “letter” of the Tamil Nadu Governor that he circulated on the occasion of the Republic Day. In that letter he mentions that “Lord Shri Ram is in the heart of every Bharatiya”. Is this not religious fanaticism? Has the Union Government sent this Governor to Tamil Nadu as a religious preacher or to oversee the implementation of the Indian Constitution? By now, every sensible Indian has become aware of the “hidden agenda” of the government. Re-creating a new history by mitigating or meddling with the past history will never help the country to progress or move forward. Rather, it will lead to the destruction of a nation.

There are burning issues like drastic decline in employment rate; sudden increase in unemployment rate; growing unrest among the unemployed youth and students; economic crisis followed by de-monetization; privatization of profit-making public sector undertakings; growing discrimination of marginalised and minority communities; atrocities on women and young girls; increasing child-deaths due to malnutrition or under-nourishment; mismanagement of Covid-19/Omicron crisis; death of more than 700 protesting farmers and injustice done to them and the farming sector, etc. 

Instead of tackling these issues, the government has been insensitive and undemocratic. Its attention is set on election campaigns clubbed with jumlas (making false promises); de-stabilising non-BJP state governments; selling of profit-yielding public sector companies; erection of Patel statue in Gujarat; construction of Central Vista; buying sophisticated aircraft and cars for the President and the Prime Minister; alleged spying on media persons, autonomous bodies, judges, social activists, opposition party leaders and its own party members through Pegasus Spyware; accumulating huge amount in the name of PM Care Fund, etc. Why does the government waste huge amount of tax-payers’ money for non-essential activities? Does a common man get any benefit from these? This is a million-dollar question.

Let us with an open mind and a sincere heart recite with Rabindranath Tagore the Prayer for the Nation:

“Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high;
Where knowledge is free;
Where the world has not been broken up into fragments
By narrow domestic walls;
Where words come out from the depth of truth;
Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection;
Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way;
Into the dreary desert sand of dead habit;
Where the mind is led forward by thee
Into ever-widening thought and action;
Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake.”

(The writer is a freelance journalist and an NGO Consultant. Contact at mlsatyan55@gmail.com)