A controversy has broken out after the ads on the Republic day have not carried the words Secular and Socialism in the picture of Preamble of the constitution. There was a much hallabol regarding this by various political parties blaming BJP. The original preamble does not contain the words Secular and Socialism. These words were included by the late Prime Minister Smt Indira Gandhi during the period of emergency after jailing all the opposition leaders and curtailing the media freedom. This was never discussed in the parliament and as such these words in the preamble does not have any sanctity.

Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad on Friday asked the Congress to debate if Jawaharlal Nehru was a “secular person or not’’, because as Prime Minister he was a leading member of the Constituent Assembly along with Dr. Ambedkar and Maulana Abul Kalam Azad that had made the original preamble. “The constituent assembly which had eminent leaders as its members did not include socialist or secular in the original preamble in 1950. The Congress must reply to it if it believes that leading lights such as Pandit Nehru were secular or not,’’ Mr. Prasad said. Or the BJP, Mr. Prasad clarified, secular principle flows from the Indian ethos and “is a part of our proud cultural heritage and our DNA which reinforces the respect for each other’s state.’’ “When Prime Minister Narendra Modi says Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas, it is being translated with action on the ground with inclusive development for all,’’ he added.

By Premji