December 3, 2019
Dola Sen demands a statue of Nandalal Bose be installed in Parliament
FULL TRANSCRIPT
The original hand-written Constitution is a work of art. This House should commemorate its illustrator, the great artist Nandalal Bose, on December 3, his birth anniversary.
Nandalal Bose was born in 1882. He was a student of Rabindranath Tagore and later became the principal of Santiniketan’s Kala Bhavan. He is known for his indigenous style and depiction of rural life. He worked with Mahatma Gandhi and Rabindranath Tagore and contributed immensely towards the freedom movement with his artworks.
Nandalal Bose and his students adorned the pages of the Constitution with beautiful art pieces from the history of India. The pages depict images from different periods of the national history ranging from the Vedic Age, the Epic Age to depictions of the lives of the Buddha and Mahavira, followed by scenes from the courts of Ashoka and Vikramaditya. Other great figures who are represented are Akbar, Shivaji, Guru Gobind Singh, Tipu Sultan and Rani Lakshmibai.
On the occasion of his birth anniversary, the House must take the resolve to honour the memory of Nandalal Bose by installing his picture in the Central Hall of Parliament. Another thing, Sir, you may recall that we had raised the demand for installing the statue of Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay, one of the greatest Indian writers, and the writer of ‘Bande Mataram’, during the last session. These two people have made great contributions in the field of art and culture.
Hence, there is an urgent need for them to get representation in Parliament. I am aware that a committee on installation of statues and portraits of national leaders and parliamentarians in the Parliament House complex exists. The reason we are raising this issue today is to take the message to a wider platform, and to request you to urge the committee to look into this on an urgent basis.
Thank you, Sir.
