Adhir Ranjan Claims 'Socialist, Secular' Missing From Preamble Of Constitution Copies Given To MPs

Congress leader Adhir Ranjan has claimed that the words 'socialist and secular' were missing from the Constitution copies given to MPs on Tuesday.

Congress MP Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, holding the Constitution of India, with party MP Rahul Gandhi and other Parliamentarians.

Source : PTI

Congress leader in Lok Sabha, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, has claimed that the words 'socialist and secular' were missing from the Preamble of the copies of Constitution handed out to the MPs before entering the new Parliament building and expressed doubt over the intention of the Centre.

"The new copies of the Constitution that were given to us today (19th September), the one we held in our hands and entered (the new Parliament building), its Preamble doesn't have the words 'socialist secular'. We know that the words were added after an amendment in 1976 but if someone gives us the Constitution today and it doesn't have those words, it is a matter of concern...Their intention is suspicious," Adhir Ranjan said.

"It has been done cleverly. It is a matter of concern for me. I tried to raise this issue but I did not get an opportunity to raise this issue," he said. 

The NCP also charged that the alleged deletion of words socialist and secular from the Preamble in the copies of the Constitution presented to MPs on the opening day of the new Parliament building showed the biased mindset of the ruling BJP.

In a statement, Sharad Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party's spokesperson Clyde Crasto said, "The BJP government says that this printed text was the original Preamble. If BJP does not want to respect the constitutional amendment of the Preamble and wants to follow the original, then why have they moved out from the original 'Temple of Democracy', the old Parliament building? Why did they not stay in the original one?" Removing the words 'socialist' and 'secular' is truly a display of BJPs biased mindset, he alleged.

"The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) should stop fooling the people of India with their absurd replies because people know what they are trying to really achieve," Crasto said.

The new Parliament building held its first session on Tuesday and the Centre tabled the much-anticipated Women's Reservation Bill which seeks to reserve 33 per cent of Lok Sabha and state legislative Assemblies seats for women. However, a war of words broke out between the Congress and the BJP as the grand old party claimed that the bill was first initiated by UPA under the leadership of Sonia Gandhi. The bill 

Congress leader Manish Tewari dubbed the bill a 'betrayal of the women's movement and their struggle." He said, "The Bill which has been introduced is unfortunately a betrayal of the women's movement and their struggle for greater representation in policy making and in legislative affairs. Clause 334 A of the Bill says that the reservation will come into effect after the first census post the passage of the Constitutional Amendment Bill and the delimitation which would follow. So essentially what it means is that under no circumstances will this reservation come into effect before 2029."