NEW DELHI: The Left parties on Friday strongly condemned RSS Sarkaryavah Dattatreya Hosabale’s call for the removal of “socialism” and “secularism” from the Preamble of the Constitution, denouncing it as an assault on India’s founding values.
The Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] stated that the demand exposed the RSS’s long-standing agenda to subvert the Constitution and replace the secular democratic republic with a Hindu Rashtra.
“RSS’s demand to remove socialism and secularism from the Constitution’s Preamble is a direct assault on India’s core values. The RSS has always upheld Manusmriti over the Constitution. Secularism and equality are its foundation. The CPI(M) will fiercely resist this divisive agenda to protect our democratic republic,” posted CPI(M) general secretary M.A. Baby on X.
The CPI(M) said the inclusion of these principles in the Preamble was not arbitrary, but represented the ideals for which freedom fighters like Bhagat Singh and his comrades gave their lives.
CPI general secretary D. Raja accused the RSS of aspiring to turn India into a theocratic state by redefining national identity and rewriting history. “The RSS never accepted the Constitution crafted by Dr B.R. Ambedkar. Its agenda seeks to impose a monolithic, illiberal, medieval social-political order that entrenches inequality and patriarchy,” he said.
Speaking at an event marking the 50th anniversary of the Emergency at the IGNCA in New Delhi, argued that the words “socialism” and “secularism” were forcibly inserted into the Preamble.
Dipankar Bhattacharya, general secretary of the CPI (Marxist-Leninist) Liberation, said the attempt reflects the Sangh-BJP’s broader goal of reshaping the Constitution to strip it of its democratic core. “Though these terms were added explicitly through the 42nd Amendment, the Constitution has always upheld secular and socialist principles as part of its basic structure,” he said, adding that the RSS fundamentally opposes every marker of the constitutional republic, including ‘sovereign’ and ‘democratic’.
The CPI(M) called it the “height of hypocrisy” for the RSS, which had no role in the freedom movement, to now seek the removal of principles foundational to the republic. “We appeal to the people to remain vigilant and resolutely resist all such attempts by the RSS and its protégé, the BJP,” the party’s statement concluded.