No plans to remove secular from Preamble or review quota: Govt

The government has no plans of removing the word ‘secular’ from the Preamble of the Constitution; nor does it intend to review the reservation policy, Parliament was informed on Friday.

 “It (the principle of secularism) is enshrined in the Constitution. It will remain in the Constitution,” Parliamentary Affairs Minister M Venkaiah Naidu told Lok Sabha, amidst opposition’s disquiet after Home Minister Rajnath Singh’s statement that the word ‘secular’ was not originally mentioned in the Preamble and was added only in 1976.

Singh also ruffled opposition feathers by saying secularism has been the most abused word in the country, as he kicked off a special discussion on “Commitment to India’s Constitution” on Thursday.

Naidu’s assurance is a reiteration of Singh’s assertion that the government will not remove ‘secular’ from the Preamble.

“People who practise caste politics, people who practice communal politics, people who practise parochial politics call others anti-secular. That is why he (Singh) said ‘secularism’ is the most abused word in this country,” the Parliamentary Affairs Minister said, criticising the Congress for trying to raise a controversy over the statement.

Asking opposition parties to give up “pseudo-secularism”, Naidu said: “Let there be no appeasement of anybody. Justice for all, appeasement of none should be the policy.”
Not satisfied by the clarification, Congress chief whip in Lok Sabha Jyotiraditya Scindia alleged that the BJP-led government raised the issue in the discussion because it has difficulties with the word ‘secularism’.

Naidu was also categorical in saying that the government do not intend to review the reservation policy.

“There is no question of rethinking on reservation at all. That has been made very clear. Nobody can think of it. How to strengthen it further, that is the aim. That should be our endeavour to work together,” he said, recalling the life of  B R Ambedkar and his role in drafting the Constitution.