‘Socialist, secular’ missing from Preamble displayed at Odisha Assembly, Opposition stalls proceedings

After the Winter Session of the Odisha Assembly started on Tuesday, senior BJD leader Ranendra Pratap Swain raised the issue immediately after the obituary references and sought clarification from the Chair. Subsequently, BJD and Congress MLAs protested over the issue.

Speaking to reporters outside the House, Swain said, “The Supreme Court on Monday rejected the PIL which sought deletion of the words ‘secular’ and ‘socialist’ from the Preamble of the Constitution. Unfortunately, the two words are missing in the Preamble displayed in the Assembly… It is an affront to the Constitution.” BJD MLAs demanded that the “error” be corrected.

The Congress also joined the chorus, with its Legislature Party leader Ramachandra Kadam alleging a conspiracy behind the issue.

“Omission of the two words indicates that the BJP has no respect for the Constitution,” said Kadam.

However, the BJP has said that the Preamble displayed at the Assembly was a copy of the Preamble adopted by the Constituent Assembly. BJP MLA Irasis Acharya said, “The two words — socialist and secular — were added to the Preamble of the Indian Constitution in 1976, after the 42nd constitutional amendment… We have great respect for the Constitution of India and accept that the Preamble is the soul of the Constitution. But the BJD is trying to mislead the people by raising non-issues.”

The House witnessed multiple adjournments amid uproar from the Opposition benches.