Jairam Ramesh moves privilege notice against Dharmendra Pradhan for “excluding preamble from some NCERT books”

New Delhi [India], August 9 (ANI): Congress General Secretary and MP Jairam Ramesh moved a privilege motion notice in the Rajya Sabha, against Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, accusing him of misleading the House (Rajya Sabha) on the issue of removal of Preamble from NCERT textbooks.

“I hereby give notice of a question of privilege under Rule 187 of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the Council of States (Rajya Sabha) against Dharmendra Pradhan, Minister of Education for having misled the House,” the Congress leader said in the notice.

Jairam Ramesh mentioned the statement of Leader of the Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge in the Upper House on Wednesday in which he raised the matter regarding omitting the Preamble, to which the Education Minister responded that “recently also the new books of class 6 have the Preamble.”

The Congress MP said that the statement made by Pradhan in response to the LoP is factually incorrect and misleading.

“This assertion by Dharmendra Pradhan is factually incorrect and misleading. In support of my contention, I enclose herewith copies of the textbook for Class 3 titled ‘Looking Around’ (Environmental Studies), November 2022 edition, a textbook in Hindi titled ‘Rimjhim-3’ November 2022 edition, and a textbook for Class 6 titled ‘Honeysuckle’, December 2022 Edition. In both these textbooks, the Preamble to the Constitution had been incorporated as was done in the earlier editions of the textbooks,” he said in the notice.

“On the other hand, the textbook for students of Class 3 titled ‘Our Wondrous World’, June 2024 edition, a textbook in Hindi titled ‘Veena’, June 2024 edition and the textbook for students of Class 6 titled ‘Poorvi’/ June 2024 edition/ the Preamble to the Constitution has been omitted,” he added.

“Thereafter, your good self had inter alia observed, ” …. If he is wrong, it is a breach of privilege . …. (Interruptions). .. If what the Minister says is wrong, then, it is a breach of privilege ….. ” The relevant extracts from Rajya Sabha Debates dated 7 August 2024 as well as from the textbooks referred to above are enclosed for reference,” Jairam Ramesh said in the notice.

The Congress General Secretary said that the omission of the Preamble is a grave affront to the concept of generating awareness among youths and requested the Chairman of the Upper House to initiate privilege proceedings against Pradhan in this regard.

“The omission of the Preamble to the Constitution in the textbooks of school children is a grave affront to the very concept of generating awareness among youth of this country about the spirit of the Constitution of India. It was at this point that the Leader of the Opposition had contended while raising the matter during Zero Hour on 7 August 2024. The contentions made by Shri Dharmendra Pradhan contesting the assertions made by me in the House in this regard as already stated are misleading,” he said.

“It is well established that misleading and misrepresentation of facts on the floor of the House constitutes breach of privilege and contempt of the House. I, therefore, request you to initiate privilege proceedings against Shri Dharmendra Pradhan in this regard,” the Congress leader added in the notice.

Earlier, speaking in the Rajya Sabha, Mallikarjun Kharge accused the BJP government of removing the Preamble from NCERT textbooks.

“It has been reported that the Preamble of the Constitution was removed from the NCERT books. The preamble has been removed from NCERT textbooks, it was printed in the books earlier. The Preamble is the soul and spirit of the Constitution,” Kharge said.

Referring to the November 25, 1949, Constituent Assembly speech in which it was said, “We must make our political democracy a social democracy as well. A political democracy can not last unless their lives are at the base of it social democracy. What does social democracy mean, it means a way of life that recognises liberty, equality, and fraternity. As the principles of life, these principles of liberty, equality, and fraternity are not to be treated as separate items in the Trinity. They form a union of trinity in the sense that, to avoid, and diverse from the other.”

He criticised the government for allegedly erasing statues of Dr BR Ambedkar and Mahatma Gandhi and tampering with the Constitution.

“BJP since its election removed statues of Mahatma Gandhi, and Dr BR Ambedkar and then is editing the Constitution. Warns that people will not accept it. The RSS and BJP are forcing their communal ways of thinking on the citizens of India. The step taken by the NCERT is not right ” he added.

The accusation sparked loud protests from the Treasury benches, and Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar intervened during the debate.

Meanwhile, Pradhan lashed out at the Congress party, saying that they only engage in spreading lies and confusion.

Speaking on the allegations of removal of the preamble from NCERT textbooks, Pradhan said, “The Congress party is engaged in spreading lies and confusion. We expect that a person sitting in a responsible position like the Leader of the Opposition should not mislead the House. Modiji’s government is committed to the Constitution…They should apologise to the country.”

He further stated that during the zero-hour discussion in the Parliament, the Leader of Opposition raised some issues that were beyond facts and that he clarified the matter of the alleged removal of the preamble from NCERT 6th class textbooks in the house.

“Today, during the zero hour, the leader of the opposition raised some things that were beyond facts. Quoting a newspaper, he alleged that the topic of the Preamble, which was there in the NCERT 6th class books, has been omitted now. I clarified the matter with the permission of the Speaker of the House,” he said.

“Recently, the new textbooks for the 6th class have been released. In all the books, the subjects of the Constitution’s Preamble, Fundamental Duties, Fundamental Rights, National Anthem, etc have been included in more books than they used to be in the past,” he said.