Deletion of words 'secular', 'socialist' unfortunate: Samajwadi Party

The party added that the deletion of the words would give out a wrong message to the world

Taking strong exception to deletion of words 'secular' and 'socialist' on an advertisement issued by the Centre that carried a picture of the Preamble to the Constitution, Samajwadi Party today said that it is "unfortunate" and would give out a wrong message to the world.

"Even thinking of deleting words secular and socialist is saddening and unfortunate. This could not be a mere coincidence that the Centre deleted the words in its ads and its ally Shiv Sena saying that these two words can be permanently dropped from the Preamble. This is an insult of freedom fighters, who had a dream to see India as a socialist country," SP leader Shivapal Yadav told reporters here.

"Subhash Chandra Bose has advocated for 'samajwad' (socialism) in Haripura Convention while Chandrashekhar Azad has constituted Hindustan Republican Socialist Army. Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru and Baba Saheb Ambedkar has also raised voice in favour of 'samajwad'," he said.

Stating that deleted words would give a "wrong message to the world," Yadav said that Father of the Nation Mahatma Gandhi and, Ram Manohar Lohia also had faith in 'samajwad'.

The advertisement issued by Centre had carried a picture of the Preamble to the Constitution as it appeared before the 42nd Amendment, without the words 'secular' and 'socialist'.

Defending the Centre, Union Minister Ravishankar Prasad had yesterday said, "What is the objection in placing some views in a historical perspective. The Preamble, which was used in the advertisement was the original Preamble and the Constituent Assembly, which had prepared it had leaders like Jawaharlal Nehru, B R Ambedkar and others. These two words were not there then."