Page 111 - Constitution

70 Years of Indian
Constitution
change was made following parliamentary procedure and
well received by the people at large.
On this occasion, I must share few memoirs pertaining
to the Constitution. When I first saw the Hindi Copy of the
Constitution in the Parliament Library, I was amazed to
see the pictures in all the 22 chapters of the Constitution.
The range of the pictures was from Vedic Period, Gupta
Period, Indian Freedom struggle, pictures of Shivaji, Guru
Govind Singh, Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose, etc. After
studying the Constitution, I met the Speaker of the Lok
Sabha and suggested that Hindi and English copies of the
Constitution should be reprinted and kept for sale. I also
suggested these copies should be given to all Members
of the Parliament as memento. The suggestion was
accepted and implemented. It made me happy.
While reading the debates of the Constitution Assembly,
I came across the debate about national anthem. Majority
members suggested ‘Vande Mataram’, while Prime
Minister Shri Jawaharlal Nehru’s preference was for ‘Jana
Gana Mana’. As the Chairman Dr. Rajendra Prasad said
that both songs are good, we shall approve ‘Jana – Gana-
Mana’, however, ‘Vande Mataram’ will have equal status.
Subsequently in Lok Sabha, a question was raised and
replied stating that National Anthem and National Song
are not being sung in some schools and the Government
would issue a statement for their regular singing. I demand for Foundation Day and requested Uttar Pradesh
considered that the reply is not satisfactory. I raised the
discussion through the route of ‘Half an Hour Discussion’
which finally resulted in the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha
singing ‘Jana – Gana – Mana’ on the first day of every
After studying the Constitution, I met
the Speaker of the Lok Sabha and
suggested that Hindi and English
copies of the Constitution should be
reprinted and kept for sale
session of the Lok Sabha and ‘Vande Mataram’ on the last
day of every session. When someone asks me what is my
important achievement in the Lok Sabha, I reply, "singing
of ‘Jana-Gana-Mana’ on 24th November 1992 and ‘Vande
Mataram’ on 23rd December 1992 in Lok Sabha after 45
years of securing Independence".
I would also like to mention another achievement. The
last meeting of the Constituent Assembly was held on 24th
January 1950 when the ‘Constitution of India’ was signed
by all members. In the Constitution, name of the state
is shown as ‘United Province’. However, on the same
day, the Government of India issued a notification stating
that ‘United Province’ will be known as ‘Uttar Pradesh’.
This was a very important day which can be considered
as 'Uttar Pradesh Foundation Day'. Some social
organizations were asking that Uttar Pradesh Government
should declare it as a Foundation Day. When I became
the Governor, I prepared a proper case to support the
Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath to declare 24th January
as 'Uttar Pradesh Foundation Day'. The Chief Minister
graciously agreed and issued suitable order on 2nd May
2017. Thereafter, the first 'Uttar Pradesh Foundation Day'
70 Years of Indian Constitution 111