General Discussion on the Constitution Bill
Dr. Kamal Hossain opened the floor for discussion on 19 October 1972
Excerpt of proceedings on 19 October 1972
Dr. Kamal Hossain: Mr. Speaker, the draft constitution has been widely circulated in the newspapers for seven days. The honorable members have had the opportunity to examine this bill in detail. The constitution bill can now be taken up for discussion.
Therefore, with your permission, I would like to propose that the bill raised in the Constituent Assembly of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh be accepted for immediate consideration.
Speaker: The motion raised in this assembly is that the Constitution Bill, that has been placed for Bangladesh, be accepted for immediate consideration.
Footnotes
Bangladesh Constituent Assembly Debates by M. Abdul Halim (CCB Foundation, 2014)
Translated by Umran Chowdhury.
Note: During the general debate on the Constitution Bill, references were made to the constitutional law of England, the United States, Germany, USSR, India and other countries. Hafez Habibur Rahman of Comilla-12 cited the unwritten English constitution, noting that “The Constitution we are seeing in the assembly today, it is not a sudden constitution. It has grown like the Constitution of England”. Syed Nazrul Islam, Deputy Leader of the House, referred to the words of John Marshall, the fourth Chief Justice of the United States, and paraphrased his words to say “Constitution is the skeleton. It is the political parties which provide flesh and blood in it”.