Original preamble did not have 'secular', 'socialist': Minister

The original preamble of the Constitution did not have the words "socialist" and "secular", said Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore Wednesday.

The government has been criticised over a Republic Day advertisement, which showed the preamble without the two words.

The minister said a picture of the original preamble was used for the advertisement to "honour" it.

He also tweeted pictures of the preamble before and after the 42nd Amendment, which added the words "secular" and "socialist" to it. "This is the original preamble. The words 'Socialist' and 'Secular' were added in 1976," he added.

"Let me assure you, we are celebrating the 66th Republic Day, that is, we are celebrating an anniversary of the preamble that was made way back then," Rathore told reporters.

"The photograph that we have put is of the first preamble that our great leaders had made at that point of time," Rathore said.

He added that the two words were included after the 42nd Constitutional Amendment in 1976. - IANS