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February 23, 2007 18:30 IST
President Kalam's address to Parliament on Friday stirred up a row with the Left parties asking the Central government to take cognizance of the Hindi translation of the word secularism used in the address, saying 'dharmanirpeshkta' (secularism) had been wrongly termed as 'panthnirpeshkta' (only Hindu religion).
Reminding the government that the very purpose of forming the United Progressive Alliance was to defend the country's secular edifice, they asked it to look into the matter to find out how the mistake had crept into such an important policy document of the government.
At a joint press conference convened to brief the media about the issues the Left proposed to raise during the Budget Session of Parliament, Communist Party of India parliamentary group leader Sitaram Yechury said whether it was a 'bureaucratic' or the translator's mistake, it had to be corrected as Indian Republic was based on separation of religion from the state.
Explaining the meaning of 'Panthnirpeshkta,' Yechury claimed that very connotation of the word was 'reflective of the pernicious philosophy,' which means that there is only one religion in the country, that is Hinduism and all others are sects.
UNI
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