The political debate over the words “secular” and “socialist” in the Preamble of the Constitution ensued with the Congress reiterating its vehement opposition to a few BJP leaders’ suggestions to remove the Emergency-era terms. Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge on Monday hit out at RSS leader Dattatreya Hosabale calling him a “man of Manusmriti” and asserted that the grand old party will fight tooth and nail if any word is touched in the Constitution.
“He doesn’t want the poor class people to come up. And what was practiced thousands of years ago, he wants the same to continue. That’s why he doesn’t like socialism, secularism and liberty, equality and fraternity,” Kharge said.
Claiming that it was not Hosabale’s suggestion to remove the words, rather of the RSS, Kharge said, “RSS is always against the poor people, the downtrodden and Scheduled Caste and other communities. If they are so interested, they could have removed untouchability. They claim they are the champions of the Hindu religion. If they are so, they should remove untouchability.”
“Instead of that, simply talking, making noise and creating confusion in the country–that is very bad, and we are against it. The party will fight tooth and nail if any word is touched in the Constitution,” Kharge added.
The row kicked off after Hosabale made a pitch for a discussion on whether the words “socialist” and “secular”, inserted in the Preamble of the Constitution during the Emergency days, should continue to remain. He made the remarks during an event on the Emergency and he said, “the preamble of the Constitution Baba Saheb Ambedkar made never had these words.”
“During the Emergency, when fundamental rights were suspended, Parliament did not work, and judiciary became lame, then these words were added.” The RSS leader said discussions were held on this issue later but no effort was made to remove them from the Preamble.
“So whether they should remain in the Preamble should be considered,” he added.
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Later, Vice President Jagdeep Dhankar, Union Ministers Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Jitendra Singh, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma followed suit questioning the Emergency-era amendment of the Preamble.
