Row over R-Day ad omission - Calcutta Telegraph

New Delhi, Jan. 27: The government’s Republic Day advertisements omitting the words “secular” and “socialist” that form part of the preamble to the Constitution has triggered a controversy.

Hundreds joined an online petition started today, criticising what they said was an “utterly condemnable” omission in the half-page ads with a message from the Prime Minister that democracy can’t succeed without people’s participation.

An image of the preamble appears, super-imposed on an image of people from different parts of India, with the words: “We the people of India, having solemnly resolved to constitute India into a SOVEREIGN DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC…”

The original preamble has the words “socialist” and “secular” between sovereign and democratic.

Members of India’s civil society launched the online campaign to highlight what they claimed was a “deliberate act” by the government. “At a time when people of India, and even the global community, have apprehensions about the secular character of the Indian democracy, which stands threatened by a right-wing government formed with less than one-third of the popular votes, this omission is utterly condemnable,” it said.

Frank Noronha, the chief spokesperson for the government, defended the ad, saying “it was an artistic depiction of a historical document” and the emphasis was on the message. “It was definitely not intentional,” Noronha said.