Jairam Ramesh moves privilege notice against Pradhan for ‘misleading’ Rajya Sabha

As per Jairam Ramesh’s letter, Dharmendra Pradhan in response said Class 6 textbooks have the Preamble.

Jairam Ramesh, privilege notice against Pradhan, Dharmendra Pradhan, Rajya Sabha, NCERT textbooks, jagdeep dhankar, Indian express neqws

Jairam Ramesh (File Photo)

Congress MP Jairam Ramesh on Friday moved a notice to initiate privilege proceedings in the Rajya Sabha against Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan for allegedly misleading the House with his claim that school textbooks still feature the Preamble.

In his letter to Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar, Ramesh said the Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha, Mallikarjun Kharge, “raised the matter regarding omitting the Preamble to the Constitution in the textbooks by NCERT for children of Class 3 and 6”.

As per Ramesh’s letter, Pradhan in response said Class 6 textbooks have the Preamble. “This assertion by Shri Dharmendra Pradhan is factually incorrect and misleading,” it said.

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To support his “contention”, Ramesh enclosed copies of some textbooks and said in some of them, the Preamble to the Constitution has been omitted while in some it was there.
In the letter he also “quoted” Chairman Dhankhar as having said during a debate on August 7, 2024, “…If he is wrong, it is a breach of privilege….. (Interruptions)… If what the hon.

Minister says is wrong, then, it is a breach of privilege…”

Ramesh enclosed “the relevant extracts from Rajya Sabha debates dated August 7, 2024 as well as from the textbooks” along with his letter. “Omission of Preamble to the Constitution in the textbooks of school children is a grave affront to the very concept of generating awareness among youth of this country about the spirit of the Constitution of India,” he wrote.

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