Showcasing political history through photos

A wide range of rarest photographs of Karnataka Assembly captured on various occasions since its inception 60 years ago, are on display at Ravindra Kala Bhavan at University College.

The expo offers a new insight into the history of Karnataka Legislative Assembly.

The neatly arranged black and white photographs of former prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru at the ground breaking ceremony for the construction of Vidhan Soudha, former president S Radhakrisnan’s visit to the construction site, the first Assembly session on June 18, 1952, the first team of elected representatives to the Assembly, takes the viewers reverse in the timeline.

The Information Department has displayed over 250 photographs capturing various moods of the Assembly under the title ‘Vidhana Sabhe-60,’ to mark the 60th year of Karnataka Legislative Assembly. The photo expo will be organised in all the districts this year and Dakshina Kannada is the third district in the row to organise this unique expo.

The photographs displayed in this exhibition are not merely the photos, but they reflect some of the rarest of rare moments which none of us, perhaps ever had an opportunity to witness.

These photographs tell the stories of each Assembly session held so far. A separate section showcases the photographs of chief ministers who administered the state, speakers who chaired the Assembly and governors who governed Karnataka in the last 60 years.

One of the rarest photograph captured include the visit of Dr B R Ambedkar to the capital city, while there are also pictures of SAARC convention held in Bangalore, All India Speakers’ convention, visit of former China Prime Minister, Vietnam President among others.

There are photographs of the Assembly sessions which were held at the court hall of High Court prior to the construction of Vidhan Soudha, renaming of Mysore Assembly as Karnataka Legislative Assembly in 1973, the construction process of Suvarna Vidhan Soudha in Belgaum taking the viewers down the memory lane. The photograph of Jagadish Shettar swearing in as the Chief Minister of Karnataka is the latest of all photos in the exhibition.

Zilla Panchayat CEO Dr K N Vijayaprakash inaugurated the photo expo. Mangalore City Corporation Commissioner Dr K Harish Kumar and District Information Department Officer K Rohini were present. Expo will be kept open for the public till 6 pm on Saturday.