Sir, I remember vividly the words which were uttered by that gallant gentleman, Dr. SachchidanandaSinha who opened the proceedings of this House and who congratulated you on your election. He said that throughout the course of your life you had never stood second. You had stood first in the Calcutta University the territory of which had extended from the Punjab to the remote Assam. He also expressed the feeling that you had seriously disappointed him by refusing to become a High Court Judge. Sir, I say today, and I think the house will agree with me, that you stand first in piloting this Constitution of this country. You have enabled a subject nation–we were still a subject nation when we started making this Constitution–to become an independent nation in the course of the proceedings. I hope that though you have once disappointed Bihar, you will not disappoint the rest of India by refusing the position of honour and distinction which is justly your due under the new Constitution.
