Mumbai: In a new move, the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government has made the daily reading of the Preamble of the Constitution of India compulsory in schools from January 26. Schoolchildren will now have to recite the preamble after morning prayers. The move comes against the backdrop of protests against the controversial Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and proposed National Register of Citizens (NRC).
Maharashtra school education minister Varsha Gaikwad, a Congress MLA, on Tuesday, said that school students would have to compulsorily read out the Preamble during their morning assemblies across the state.
According to a Government Resolution (GR), issued on Tuesday, reading of the Preamble is the part of the “sovereignty of the Constitution and welfare of all campaign”.
The GR further added that the Preamble to the Constitution would be read out in-group by students in all primary and secondary schools from January 26.
Speaking with the reporters, Gaikwad said, “Students will recite the Preamble to the Constitution so that they know its importance. There was an old GR on this matter, but we will implement ours from January 26.”
A GR about reading the Preamble during school assemblies was issued in February 2013 when the Congress — Nationalist Congress Party government was in power in Maharashtra. As per the circular dated January 21, 2020, this GR was not being implemented.
The Congress is one of the constituents in the Shiv Sena-led MVA government along with the NCP. Many Congress leaders have said that the “unconstitutional” CAA would not be allowed in Maharashtra.
