Congress moves privilege motion over 'misleading' NCERT preamble removal claim
Congress MP Jairam Ramesh has moved a privilege motion notice in the Rajya Sabha against Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan. Ramesh accused Pradhan of misleading the House by stating that the Preamble of the Constitution was not omitted from NCERT textbooks. He referenced a statement made by Leader of the Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge, who raised concerns about omitting the Preamble in class 3 and 6 textbooks. In response, Pradhan claimed that "the new books of class 6 have the Preamble."
Ramesh cites Pradhan's response to Kharge's statement as misleading
Ramesh asserted that this statement by Pradhan is factually incorrect and misleading. To support his claim, Ramesh provided copies of textbooks from November and December 2022, where the Preamble to the Constitution had been incorporated as in earlier editions. However, he pointed out that textbooks from June 2024 omitted the Preamble. "The textbook for Class 3 titled 'Our Wondorous World', June 2024 edition, a textbook in Hindi titled 'Veena', June 2024 edition, the Preamble...has been omitted," read the notice.
Ramesh seeks initiation of privilege proceedings against Pradhan
For several days now, Congress lawmakers have been raising the issue of removing the Preamble from NCERT textbooks in parliament. Earlier, Kharge accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government of removing the Preamble, stating that "the preamble has been removed from NCERT textbooks, it was printed in the books earlier." The Congress had also alleged that removing the Preamble from textbooks was an attempt to impose communal ideology on the country.
Pradhan dismisses allegations as baseless; accuses Congress of spreading lies
However, Pradhan has dubbed these allegations as baseless and accused Congress of using this issue to pursue its "politics of lies." He stated that those who are playing with the future of children and calling the Indian education system rubbish should try to know the truth before spreading lies. Pradhan's comments came amid news reports claiming that the Preamble to the Constitution has been dropped from certain NCERT textbooks.
NCERT official refutes allegations; Pradhan criticizes Congress's understanding of Constitution
"Leader of the Opposition was saying that earlier there used to be Preamble (in the textbooks). In the new textbooks of Class 6, there is Preamble...there is Fundamental Duties, Fundamental Rights, and National Anthem....These also represent core values of the Constitution and they are in the books. What he (Kharge) said was not a fact," Pradhan had said. Ranjana Arora, Head of the Department of Curriculum Studies and Development at the NCERT, also clarified that the allegation was not true.
