‘Secular’, ‘socialist’ missing from copies of Constitution given to lawmakers: Adhir

Congress MP Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury on Wednesday alleged that the words “secular” and “socialist” were missing from the Preamble in the copies of the Constitution given to lawmakers on the opening day of proceedings at the new Parliament building.
As many Opposition leaders also hit out at the government over what they called a “serious” issue and a “crime”, Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal said the copies carried the original version of the Preamble of the Constitution and that these words were added later to it after constitutional amendments. “This is as per the original Preamble. Amendments were made later,” he asserted. Terming the matter as serious, Chowdhury said the words have been “cleverly removed” and expressed doubts over the intentions of the BJP government. “The Preamble of the Constitution in the copy that we carried to the new building does not include the words secular and socialist. They have been cleverly removed. This is a serious matter, and we will raise this issue,” he told reporters. Chowdhury said he knows that the words were added later, in 1976, to the Constitution. “For me, this is a serious issue. I doubt their intentions, as their hearts do not seem to be clear on this,” he said. The Congress Leader of the House in Lok Sabha also said that if someone gives a copy of the Constitution today, it should carry the version of it as of today.