Preamble to the Constitution not removed from NCERT textbooks: Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan
New Delhi (PTI): Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Wednesday said the Preamble to the Constitution is very well there in NCERT textbooks of Class VI as he refuted charges made in this regard by Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge.
Earlier, Opposition Congress party raised in Rajya Sabha the issue of dropping Preamble from certain NCERT textbooks, saying this was an attempt to impose communal ideology on the country - a claim which Union Minister J P Nadda countered saying the government was committed to protecting constitution.
During Zero Hour, Leader of the Opposition and Congress President Kharge said Preamble, which is the soul and foundation of Indian Constitution, used to be published in NCERT textbooks.
Soon after Zero Hour, Pradhan said Kharge has made certain remarks regarding NCERT books of the education department.
"I want to humbly put the facts in the House," he said.
The minister informed the House that till now textbooks for classes up to 7th have been published.
"Leader of the Opposition was saying that earlier there used to be Preamble (in the textbooks). In the new textbooks of Class VI, there is Preamble. Not only Preamble, there is Fundamental Duties, Fundamental Rights, and National Anthem (in the books). These also represent core values of the Constitution and they are in the books. What he said was not a fact," Pradhan said.
In Zero Hour, Kharge said, every citizen especially the future generation needs to be educated about foundational principles and values of Indian democracy and Constitution as well as the sacrifices made by freedom fighters such as Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, B R Ambedkar, and Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel.
He then went on to make a statement on shifting of statues of Gandhi and Ambedkar in the Parliament complex - which was objected to from the treasury benches, and Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar said Kharge was deviating from the subject.
"RSS and BJP are trying to impose their communal ideology on people by tampering with curriculum. And the step taken by NCERT is not right," he said amid protests from the ruling side.
At this point, Dhankhar ordered that nothing will go on record and he would "look into what has to be deleted... last four minutes to be deleted."
"You are digressing from the issue," he told Kharge.
Kharge demanded that the government give a clarification on the issue, present facts before the House and withdraw the move to drop Preamble from NCERT textbooks.
"Undoubtedly all of us are committed to the constitution and any perception to the contrary will hurt all of us," Dhankhar said.
Leader of the House and BJP President J P Nadda said though he has not seen either NCERT textbook or the change but can with all authority state that there is no question of any needling of the Constitution.
"Word by word, letter by letter, this government under the dynamic leadership of (Prime Minister) Modi is committed (to the Constitution)," he said.
On Kharge quoting from Constituent Assembly debate, he said it was only under the Modi government that November 26 (when the debate took place) was declared Constitution Day.
He went on to attack Congress for imposing Emergency in 1975 and dismissing more than 90 elected governments in states in violation of the Constitution.
On RSS, he said the Congress government tried to ban the organisation twice and jailed 1.25 lakh people for two years but "RSS emerged stronger because it is a nationalist organisation and an organisation connected to the grassroots."
"Preamble has been protected and will be protected," he declared.
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Disqualification row: SC unhappy over Telangana CM's statement on bye-elections
New Delhi (PTI): The Supreme Court on Thursday expressed its displeasure over Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy's statement in the assembly that there would be no bye-elections, and said he was expected to exercise "some degree of restraint".
"Did we commit a mistake by letting him go at that time and not taking an action for contempt?" a bench of Justices B R Gavai and Augustine George Masih asked.
The top court was perhaps referring to a separate matter in which it had last year disapproved of Reddy's comments on the top court granting bail to rival BRS leader K Kavitha in cases linked to the alleged Delhi excise policy scam.
The apex court's observations came during the arguments on the pleas raising the issue of alleged delay by the Telangana Assembly speaker in deciding on petitions seeking disqualification of 10 BRS MLAs who had defected to the Congress.
The bench reserved its verdict in the matter.
During the arguments, the issue over Reddy's recent statement in the assembly cropped up before the bench.
"Mr Singhvi, having experience of earlier occasion, was the chief minister not expected to at least exercise some degree of restraint?" Justice Gavai asked senior advocate Abhishek Singhvi, who was appearing for the assembly speaker.
Justice Gavai said the court was not bothered about statements of politicians.
"We exercise self-restraint. We respect the other two wings of the democracy. Same is expected of the other two wings also," he said.
Senior advocate C A Sundaram, representing the petitioner and BRS leader Padi Kaushik Reddy, referred to the transcripts of the chief minister's statement, calling it shocking.
A BRS MLA, the counsel said, had said in the assembly that this should not be raked up as the matter was pending before the apex court but the chief minister still made the statement.
Sundaram quoted the chief minister's statement as saying, "Mr speaker, I am telling on your behalf to everyone present in the assembly that they need not worry about any bye-elections in future. No Bye-elections will come".
Sundaram said when the chief minister made the statement, the speaker did not say anything.
During the hearing, the bench asked what would be the "reasonable period" for a speaker to decide on the disqualification petitions.
It asked whether such applications for disqualification "should be permitted to die its natural death and the Tenth Schedule be thrown in the dustbin?".
The Tenth Schedule of the Constitution deals with provisions on disqualification on the ground of defection.
Sundaram requested the bench to put a time limit for deciding the disqualification petitions, referring to it as an "extraordinary situation".
Reddy had allegedly said in the assembly on March 26 that there would be no bye-elections even if BRS members switched sides.
"If this is said on the floor of the house, your chief minister is making a mockery of the Tenth Schedule," the bench said on April 2.
The apex court had also asked the speaker why he took about 10 months to issue notices on the petitions for the disqualification of BRS MLAs who defected to the Congress.
While one of the pleas in the apex court has challenged the November 2024 order of the Telangana High Court in a matter concerning petitions seeking the disqualification of three BRS MLAs, another petition relates to the remaining seven legislators who defected.
A division bench of the high court in November last year said the Assembly speaker must decide the disqualification petitions against the three MLAs within a "reasonable time".
The division bench's verdict came on the appeals against the September 9, 2024, order of a single judge.
The single judge had directed the secretary of the Telangana Assembly to place the petition seeking the disqualifications before the speaker for fixing a schedule of hearing within four weeks.
On March 4, the apex court sought responses from the Telangana government and others on the pleas, saying a timely decision was the key and there could not be a case of "operation successful but patient is dead".
It had also sought the responses of MLAs Danam Nagender, Venkata Rao Tellam and Kadiyam Srihari in the matter.
