PMK shocked over Centre's willingness for debate on Preamble

NDA constituent PMK today expressed shock over the Centre's willingness for a debate on the Preamble of the Constitution in the wake of a controversial advertisement.

The party sought to remind the Narendra Modi-led government that it had sailed to power on the development plank and that it should stick to the same.

"Shiv Sena's demand for dropping the words socialist and secular from the Preamble to the constitution and Union IT Minister Ravishankar Prasad's statement that it should be debated is shocking," PMK founder S Ramadoss said.

He said Prasad's statement that government planned to use the original Preamble without these words was 'not right' and expressed doubts if the advertisement, which had carried a picture of the Preamble to the Constitution as it appeared before the 42nd Amendment without the words 'secular' and 'socialist', was a 'planned' affair.

"Socialism and secularism are the fundamental identities of this country and should continue so forever. The words should continue (in the pictures) and none in India should think of changing them. Debates in this regard are unnecessary," he said.

Ramadoss, an ally of BJP who has been critical on many issues concerning NDA-led government at the Centre, said during last year's elections people saw Modi as a 'symbol of development' and that helped his party sail to power with a comfortable majority.

"I insist that (Centre should) avoid such unwanted controversies and focus more on development activities," he said in a statement.