Dear Congress, what’s the fuss about? 'Socialist', 'secular' missing in Rajya Sabha calendar too

The BJP has been pushed in a corner over the issue of the “missing” words in the Preamble of our Indian Constitution as Opposition parties led by the Congress have unleashed their ire on the saffron party over the past few days.

If you happen to chance upon the Rajya Sabha calendar for the year 2015, the Congress faces an embarrassing situation when it comes to the Preamble and the missing words ‘socialist’ and ‘secular.’

One of the advertisements issues by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting on the occasion of 2015 Republic Day had used the image of the Preamble which didn’t have the words Socialist and Secular in it.

The Congress has gone on the warpath terming this move as deliberate and sacrilegious “no other party has doubtful integrity clause on secularism like the BJP,” said Randeep Surjewala, spokesperson for the Congress. But for hurting the ethos of the Constitution, there was little hue and cry when the same Preamble was published by the Rajya Sabha secretariat on their official calendar.

The original Preamble without the two words has been used as the backdrop for the calendar depicting the month of January.

Though BJP has gone ahead and said that it should be open to debate, the Congress maintains the moral high ground of keeping the current version of the Constitution as “sacrosanct”.

The two words of Socialist and Secular were added during the Emergency era (1976-77) as the 42nd Amendment that has been a subject of many a discourse over the decades.

The Congress has defended itself by saying the Amendment was with retrospective effect, but if that were the case, then they should have first hauled up their own men. BJP is in a minority in the Rajya Sabha, while Vice President has been Congress’ favourite by being their choice for the second time.

Though they may ask Prime Minister Narendra Modi to apologize for the omission, little did they realize that the same embarrassment could be headed their way too.