Even as India celebrated the 68th Republic Day on Thursday, none tried to recall the leaders from Odisha who were members of the Constituent Assembly which played a key role in the framing of the Constitution of India.
There were nine from Odisha in the 299-member Constituent Assembly. Ironically, history has ignored their contribution.
The leaders included Bichitrananda Das, Biswanath Das, Krushnachandra Gajapati Narayan Deb, Harekrushna Mahatab, laxminarayan Sahoo, loknath Mishra, Nanda Kishore Das, Rajkrushna Bose and Shantanu Kumar Das.
As detailed information about the Constituent Assembly and the contribution of Odisha’s leaders in the framing of the Constitution is not precisely mentioned in the courses of studies, the students and youths of today’s era are virtually ignorant about them.
The Constituent Assembly was formed in 1946.The draft of the Constitution was passed by the Constituent Assembly on November 26, 1949 after thorough brainstorming and amendments.
The Constitution was implemented on January 26, 1950 and the day is celebrated as the Republic Day of India.
There were a total 299 members, including 70 from princely States in the Constituent Assembly headed by Dr Rajendra Prasad. Of these 15 were women, including State’s veteran freedom fighter Malati Choudhury.
Among the others, Rajkumari Amrit Kaur, Vijaylaxmi Pandit, Sarojini Naidu, Renuka Ray, Sucheta Krupalini, Begum Aziz Rasul and Hans Mehta were members in the Constituent Assembly.
However, Malati Choudhury made history by resigning from the Constituent Assembly to join a Pada Jatra with Mahatma Gandhi to help establish communal harmony in the country.