Narendra Modi government jumped into a controversy created by the remarks of the Shiv Sena earlier that the words “socialist and secular” should be dropped from the Preamble to the Constitution. Union Telecommunications Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad indicated that the government appreciates a debate on whether the words should be in the Preamble. “We do not need these words to be a secular country; even without them we are a secular country,” Mr. Prasad said. “Was Pandit Nehru’s understanding of secularism less than that of the present-day Congress leaders,” he asked.

Congress spokesman Randeep Surjewala said: “No other party has a doubtful integrity clause on secularism like the Bharatiya Janata Party and that is the reason this has become an issue.” The omission of the two words from the Preamble used in government advertisements is a “sacrilegious insult” to the ethos of the Constitution, Mr. Surjewala demanded an apology from the government.

Pointing out that the two words were introduced in the Preamble in 1976 during the Emergency, Mr. Prasad told: “What is wrong if there is a debate on these two words. Let us see what the nation wants.”

Union Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Rajyavardhan Rathore described the controversy as “uncalled-for,” and pointed out that the same picture had been used in official advertisements by the earlier UPA government also.

“Shiv Sena chief Balasaheb Thackeray and before him Sarvarkar always said that if Pakistan was carved out after Partition for Muslims, then the rest of the country is a Hindu Rashtra. The Shiv Sena has always believed in this,” Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut said.

By Premji