‘Secular’ and ‘socialist’ removed from Preamble: Congress’ Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury

Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury on Tuesday alleged that the new copies of the Constitution given to lawmakers.

On the opening day of the new Parliament building, did not have the words “secular” and “socialist” in its Preamble.

“The Constitution with which we walked in the new Parliament building today, did not have the words secular and socialist in its preamble. If these two words are not present in the Constitution, then it is a worrying matter,” the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha said to news agency ANI.

He further alleged that the government made this change very “cleverly” and that their intentions were “problematic”.

Chowdhury said that he wanted to raise the issue in Parliament but he didn’t get the chance to do so.

Earlier on Tuesday, the Congress leader was seen reading the Preamble of the Constitution in Parliament. Notably, he did read out the words “socialist” and “secular” while reading the Preamble.

Members of Parliament received a copy of the Constitution of India, books related to the Parliament, a commemorative coin and a stamp on the opening day of the new Parliament building on Tuesday. A giftbag contained these presents for the MPs.

The new Parliament complex was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on May 28. The second day of the special Parliament session took place in the new building.

The shift to the new Parliament building also brought changes to the uniforms for Parliament staff of both Houses. These include chamber attendants, officers, security personnel, drivers and marshals who will all be seen wearing new uniforms during the special session.