Reciting Preamble A Must In Maharashtra Schools Starting January 26

Students in schools across Maharashtra will have to compulsorily read out the preamble to the constitution during their morning assemblies from January 26, School Education Minister Varsha Gaikwad said on Tuesday.

Reading of the preamble is the part of the "sovereignty of constitution, welfare of all" campaign, a state government circular said. "Students will recite the preamble to the constitution every day after morning prayers so that they understand its importance. It is an old government resolution, but we will implement it from January 26," the minister, who belongs to the Congress, told reporters in Mumbai.

A government resolution in this regard was issued in February 2013, when the Congress-NCP government was in power. As per the circular dated January 21, 2020, it was not being implemented.

Incidentally, people protesting the Citizenship Amendment Act have taken to reading the preamble at demonstrations to highlight how it terms the country as secular while speaking out against discrimination. Bhim Army chief Chandrashekhar Azad, who has been released on bail after spending over a month in prison, even claimed that he was arrested in January for no reason other than reading out the preamble.

The move to make students read out the preamble to Constitution comes at a time when largescale protests are being held against the Citizenship Amendment Act as well as the National Register of Citizens. The Congress is one of the constituents in the Shiv Sena-led Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi government along with the NCP. Many Congress leaders have said that the "unconstitutional" law will not be allowed in Maharashtra.

The Citizenship Amendment Act, for the first time, makes religion the test of citizenship in India. The government says it will help minorities from three Muslim-dominated countries get citizenship if they fled to India because of religious persecution before 2015. Critics say it is designed to discriminate against Muslims and violates the secular principles of the constitution.

(With inputs from PTI)