A fresh controversy has erupted after Congress Lok Sabha MP Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury on Wednesday, September 20, said that the copies of the Constitution distributed to Members of Parliament during the first sitting in the new Parliament building, did not have the words “Socialist” and “Secular” in its Preamble.
"..When I was reading it, I couldn't find these two words. I added them on my own... I also showed it to Rahul Gandhi...It was amended in 1976, so why shouldn't we get it today. Why do we do amendments? This shows the deliberate attempt to change our Constitution…” Chowdhury told news agency ANI.
The two terms – Socialist and Secular – were added in the Preamble following an amendment in 1976, during the Emergency imposed by then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.
Objecting to the BJP government’s removal of the words “Socialist” and “Secular” from the Preamble, the MP claimed that the action was “deliberate.”
“The copy of the Constitution given to us did not have the words Socialist and Secular. They (the government) can say it is an older version. But they should have included the amended version too. They may say they have given us the original version. I think there is a deliberate design,” Chowdhury told The Indian Express.
Dismissing the accusations made by the Congress leader, Minister of State Parliamentary Affairs Arjun Ram Meghwal said that the new copies did not have the words “Socialist” and “Secular” as they printed the original Constitution. “When the Constitution was drafted, it was like this. An amendment was made later. This is the original copy. Our spokesperson has replied to the same,” Meghwal said, according to IANS. The Lok Sabha Secretariat issued a bulletin on September 18, the first day of the special session of Parliament, stating that the MPs would be given a copy of the Constitution and a calligraphed copy of the original Constitution of India. “To mark the historic first sitting in the Parliament House of India (new building of Parliament) a copy of the Constitution of India, Calligraphed copy of the original Constitution of India, newsletter “Gaurav”, and commemorative stamp and coin released on the occasion of inauguration of the new building of Parliament will be presented to Hon‟ble Members,” the bulletin had said.