Only amended version of Preamble in government ads: Rajya Sabha told

NEW DELHI: Only the amended version of the Preamble to the Constitution will be used in future advertisements, the Information and Broadcasting Ministry told Rajya Sabha today, following the controversy over a government ad on the occasion of Republic Day.

In a written reply to Rajya Sabha, I&B Minister Arun Jaitley said the picture of the Preamble without the words 'secular' and socialist, which was used in a Republic Day advertisement, had been sourced from the website of Parliament Museum and the intent was to honour the founding fathers of the Constitution.

The advertisement issued by the I&B Ministry on the Republic Day became the centre of a controversy with many questioning why the words 'secular' and 'socialist' were missing.

In his reply, Jaitley said the Department of Audio Visual Publicity (DAVP) annually issues print advertisements to all empanelled publications and this year six different designs were given to all such publications.

He said in one of the advertisement designs issued, the photograph of original calligraphic representation of the Preamble to the Constitution has been used in the background as a watermark for enhancing the aesthetic value.

"The calligraphic representation has been sourced from the website of Parliament Museum, New Delhi. The Calligraphic representation and decorated preamble as available in the Parliament is the only such decorated copy till date. The intention of using it as a watermark was to enhance the aesthetic value of the design," Jaitley said.

The I&B Minister said the photo of original preamble was a way of honouring founding fathers of the Constitution and there was no malafide intention to the publication of the unamended version.

He said the same calligraphic representation and decorated Preamble of the Constitution was used in an advertisement commemorating Dr B R Ambedkar's birth anniversary on April 14, 2012.