Presentation and unveiling of the portrait of Mahatma Gandhi in the Constituent Assembly. The Constituent Assembly chaired by President Dr. Rajendra Prasad reconvened after lunch at 3.00 pm. Shri Prabhashankar Pattani rose to address the Assembly and moved a motion “Resolved that the Constituent Assembly of India do hereby accept the portrait of Mahatma Gandhi by Sir Oswald Birley, bequeathed to the nation by Sir Prabhashankat Pattani”. He went out to narrate the story behind the portrait. When Mahatma Gandhi went to London in 1935 to attend the 2nd Round Table Conference, the great portrait painter, Sir Oswald Birley painted a portrait of the Mahatma for his own use. When his father the late Shri Pattani heard of it, he persuaded Mr. Birley to sell it to him since he intended this for India. When this portrait arrived in Bhavnagar, it was kept in the original packing and no one was allowed to see it for a long time. He never mentioned to anyone what he intended to do with it. When the Government of India Act, 1935 was passed for the first time he told his son privately that he intended to present this portrait to the Nation once […]