I&B ministry directed to use image of 'amended' Preamble only

NEW DELHI: In the backdrop of the row over a government ad displaying a picture of the "original" Preamble which did not have the words ' secular' and ' socialist', the I&B Ministry has now decided that in future ads image of only the amended version of the Preamble will be used.

Officials said that I&B minister Arun Jaitley has directed the ministry to see that from now on government advertisements should use the 1976 version of the Preamble to the Constitution where the words 'secular' and 'socialist' were added.

"We have been asked by the I&B minister to see that in future, amended version of the Preamble to the Constitution is used in advertisements," a senior official said.

A row had earlier erupted over a Republic Day advertisement issued by the I&B ministry which carried a picture of the Preamble to the Constitution as it appeared before the 42nd Amendment, without the words 'secular' and 'socialist'.

The government had to face criticism from some quarters over the advertisement.

Congress leader and former Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Manish Tewari attacked the Centre on the issue, claiming the government advertisement "deleted" the two words, which was only a prelude to their "substitution" with "communal" and "corporate".

Minister of State for I&B Rajyavardhan Rathore, however, was quick to dismiss the charge, saying his ministry had only used an "original" picture of the Preamble as it appeared before the Amendment, to "honour" the first Preamble.

Rathore had said that while some people were trying to rake a controversy, the ministry had only used a picture of the Preamble when the Constitution was first adopted.