B’lurean distributes postcards printed with Constitutional values

Vinay Kumar, who wants to propagate equality and justice, hands out cards for free

A 38-year-old from Bengaluru has turned the excerpts from debates that happened while drafting ‘The Constitution of India’ into postcards. He was distributing them in the city for free on Republic Day on Thursday.

Our Constitution came into effect on 26 January, 1950, and Vinay Kumar thought Republic Day was a befitting occasion to remind citizens of the tenets of justice, equality, and liberty that it envisioned.

A patent consultant, Kumar distributed the postcards near the Constitution Circle in Yeshwanthpur at 11 am, alongside a Preamble reading event.

School students stopped by, read out the Preamble, and promised to send Kumar’s postcards to their friends. Kumar also handed postcards to BMTC bus drivers and conductors at a traffic junction. He moved to Church Street later and continued the distribution.

His collection comprises 22 postcards and a booklet. The English excerpts and artworks on them are inspired by the book ‘The Constitution of India’, which was handcrafted and featured calligraphy, and illustrations of India’s rich history, tradition and culture.

“These excerpts are taken from the debates that happened at the Constituent Assembly while discussing what laws should go into our Constitution,” says the resident of Basaveshwaranagar.

The postcard distribution is an initiative to educate people about the values “our founding mothers and fathers envisioned”. He calls it Reclaim Constitution. In the next phase, he wants to translate these excerpts into Kannada.

The initiative was in pipeline since the protests over the new citizenship law erupted in India in 2020. The Covid-19 pandemic put his plans on the burner.

“Whether it is (the attack on) the freedom of press and freedom of speech, or ban on film screenings, or unjust detention of activists, or denying education to girl children because of hijab, or curbing the powers of investigative agencies...”, a lot is wrong with the politics of the day, he says and hopes his initiative will inspire citizens to safeguard our constitutional values.

*To order, write to [e-mail]. To print, look up reclaimconstitution.in