Cong asks BJP govt to apologise for ad goof-up

The Congress on Wednesday demanded an apology from the BJP government for issuing a Republic Day advertisement using an image of the Preamble of the Indian Constitution without the words “socialist” and “secular”. It also asked the Prime Minister to clarify his stance on the issue saying the advertisement was an “affront” to the Constitution. It also dared the BJP to snap ties with Shiv Sena, which has demanded “permanent deletion” of the words “secular” and “socialist” from the Constitution, if it does not agree with its ally’s view.

Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said the explanations given by the Direction General of the Press Information Bureau and Minister of State for I&B Rajyavardhan Rathore ran contrary to each other. While the PIB Director General has explained that the amended version of the Preamble is not available, Rathore has been quoted as saying that since the nation was celebrating its first Preamble, the advertisement reflected the original preamble.