The debate has ignited once again on the word "Secular".

The Bharatiya Janta Party has once again started to ignite the debate on the word secular in the Indian Constitution. According to BJP-led Maharashtra government, the Hindi translation of secular is ‘ panth nirpeksha’ and Marathi translation is ‘dharma nirpeksh ’. The Hindi version of the Preamble, published by Maharashtra State Bureau of Textbook Production and Curriculum Research in the Class VI textbook mentions ‘panth nirpeksh’ instead of ‘dharm nirpeksh ’.
On the Contrary, all other Marathi medium textbooks for Class VI have continued with the word ‘dharma nirpeksh,’ except for Hindi. Hindi textbooks for all other standards, including those for year 2016, have the word ‘dharma nirpeksh’ in the Preamble. The Opposition leaders criticised the government for this and said it was an attempt to change the Preamble. This is nothing but clear attempt to change the Constitution by back door methods.
According to the Hindi translation of the Constitution (Updated as of November 9, 2015) available at the website of Ministry of Law and Justice (Legislative Department) the earlier translation of word ‘secular’ to ‘dharma nirpeksh’ is replaced with ‘panth nirpeksh’ .
Senior counsel in the Bombay High Court Advocate Mihir Desai told The Hindu that the original Constitution is in English. “If they are claiming that pantha nirpeksh means secular then they must explain the rationale behind it. It should also be explained as to whether dharma and pantha are the same. It must be noted that, secularism is an integral part of the Constitution and has not undergone any change,” he said.
Submitted by:- SHUBHANGI GUPTA.