Congress leader Jairam Ramesh.
Credit: PTI Photo
New Delhi: Congress has submitted a notice of breach of privilege against Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan accusing him of misleading the Parliament on the removal of the Preamble of Constitution from NCERT textbooks by claiming that it is part of the Class VI textbook.
In a letter to Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar, Congress Chief Whip Jairam Ramesh said Pradhan has made 'factually incorrect and misleading' remarks after Leader of Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge on August 7 raised the issue of omitting the Preamble from the Class III and VI textbooks.
While Pradhan said that the Class VI textbook still has Preamble in it, Jairam shared copies of textbooks of 2022 and 2024 to buttress his argument.
He said the 2022 editions of Class III textbook titled Looking Around (Environmental Studies) and Hindu textbook Rimjhim-3 and the December Class VI textbook Honeysuckle had incorporated the Preamble as was done in the earlier editions of the textbooks.
However, he said, the (June 2024 edition) Class III textbooks Our Wondrous World and Hindi textbook Veena and Class VI textbook Poorvi have 'omitted' the Preamble.
In the letter, Ramesh also recalled Dhankhar’s observations on August 7 that "if what the Mmnister says is wrong, then it is a breach of privilege."
"Omission of 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 this point which the Leader of the Opposition had contended while raising the matter during Zero Hour on 7 August, 2024," he said.