Congress MP hit out at govt for removing Preamble from NCERT textbooks

New Delhi: Congress MP Shafi Parambil on Wednesday hit out at the government for allegedly removing Preamble from the NCERT textbooks, saying Prime Minister Narendra Modi's gesture of touching the Constitution with his head now feels like a "farewell kiss" rather than a tribute.

Speaking in the Lok Sabha, the Congress MP from Vadakara said the alleged exclusion of the Preamble from books has raised questions about the government's commitment to core values of the Constitution.

"When we saw the Prime Minister in the central hall taking the Constitution in his hands we thought it is a beginning but now only we realise that it was a farewell kiss," he said referring to the alleged exclusion of the Preamble from books.

"What scares them, India being the sovereign socialist democratic republic or justice liberty equality or fraternity what scares them I must say that they discriminate the people they discriminate the states they divide the people of this country and that farewell kiss has given a clear message that they won't respect the Constitution of this nation a country can grow only when there is harmony around," he added.

The Congress also raised in the Rajya Sabha the issue of dropping the Preamble from certain NCERT textbooks, saying this was an attempt to impose communal ideology on the country — a claim which Union Minister J P Nadda countered, saying the government was committed to protecting the Constitution.