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Senior lawyer and Rajya Sabha MP Mahesh Jethmalani on Wednesday dismissed the claims made by Opposition MPs in the Parliament on the absence of the phrase "socialist secular" from the preamble and said that the claim did not hold any strength and was taken up by the Congress as they did not have an agenda.
Speaking to ANI on the issue the Rajya Sabha MP said, "This claim does not hold any strength. Congress does not have any agenda so they are taking up small issues. The Law Ministry gave them the original Constitution, it is valuable because the constituent assembly drafted it. And the amendments are there as they should be. There is no issue in this." This comes after Congress leader KC Venugopal slammed the Central government over the alleged claim by Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury on the missing words 'socialist secular' from the new constitution given to them on the first day of the Parliament. KC Venugopal said How can it be? What's there in their mind is reflected through their actions. Now the Preamble and the Constitution have been amended. The most important words Socialist and Secular were avoided in the Preamble. It is clearly the message that the Government is giving. It is totally unfortunate. The leader of the Congress in the Lok Sabha, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, raised concerns over the alleged attack on the Constitution by saying that new copies of the Constitution that were handed to the politicians on the opening day of the new Parliament building don't have the words 'socialist secular'. 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 make amendments? This shows the deliberate attempt to change our Constitution, the Congress leader said. He raised concerns and alleged suspicious intention saying that it has been done cleverly. "The new copies of the Constitution that were given to us today (19th September), the one we held in our hands and entered (the new Parliament building), its Preamble doesn't have the words 'socialist secular'. We know that the words were added after an amendment in 1976 but if someone gives us the Constitution today and it doesn't have those words, it is a matter of concern, he added. Meanwhile, day 3 of the special session of Parliament began at 11 am today. Union Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal introduced the Womens Reservation Bill and the amendments made. Congress Parliamentary Party Chairperson Sonia Gandhi started the discussion on the Bill from the Congress party. (ANI)
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