S.N Sahu | 10 August 2024 | The Wire

The removal of the Preamble to the constitution of India from some NCERT books for school children is indicative of the intent of the Modi regime not to sensitise the students of tender age about the guiding purpose and principles of the constitution.

Such a decision is a travesty of celebration of Constitution Day on November 26 every year, from 2015 onwards, to commemorate its adoption and enactment by the Constituent Assembly on that day in 1949.

Instances of tinkering with the Preamble

Repeated fiddling with the Preamble by the Modi regime has shocked the nation. For instance, on the occasion of the 66th Republic Day celebrations in 2015, the Modi government issued the text of the Preamble as an advertisement to several newspapers across the country and very tragically the words ‘secular’ and ‘socialist’ were missing from it.

Paradoxically, a quote from Modi: “There is only one holy book for the Indian government, and that is the constitution. The government of India works according to the constitution,” formed part of the ad.  It may be mentioned that the words ‘socialist’ and ‘secular’ formed part of the Preamble in 1976 when the 42nd constitutional amendment added those two words to it. The altered Preamble read, “We, the people of India, having solemnly resolved to constitute India into a sovereign socialist secular democratic republic…”

The photograph which was published in the ad that year instead of representing India’s religious pluralism had images of people indicating features associated with the Hindu faith or tribal life and omitting a Sikh with a turban or a Muslim with a skull cap.

Then Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad was on record saying, “There was no harm” in debating whether the Preamble should have the words secular and ‘socialist’…..

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