NEW DELHI: Several Opposition leaders, including Rahul Gandhi, denounced on Friday RSS general secretary Dattatreya Hosabale’s call to review the words ‘socialist’ and ‘secular’ in the Constitution’s Preamble, terming it a ‘deliberate assault’ on the soul of the Constitution.
Lashing out at the BJP and RSS, Rahul said the RSS preference for the “Manusmriti” over the Constitution has been exposed once again.
The response came after the RSS leader proposed reviewing the two words on Thursday, saying they were included during the Emergency and were never part of the Constitution drafted by B R Ambedkar.
“The RSS and BJP do not want the Constitution, they want ‘Manusmriti’. They aim to strip the marginalised and poor of their rights and enslave them again. Snatching a powerful weapon like the Constitution from them is their real agenda,” Rahul asserted, adding, “The RSS should stop dreaming this dream – we will never let it succeed. Every patriotic Indian will defend the Constitution until their last breath.”
Echoing this view, Jairam Ramesh, Congress general secretary in charge of communications, said the BJP-RSS attacked Ambedkar, Nehru, and others involved in the framing of the Constitution from November 30, 1949, onwards. “In the RSS’ own words, the Constitution was not inspired by Manusmriti,” he said on X.
He wrote, “This was Narendra Modi’s campaign cry during the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. The people decisively rejected this. Yet, the demands for changing the basic structure of the Constitution continue to be made by the RSS ecosystem.”
The CPI (M) stated the inclusion of ‘socialism’ and ‘secularism’ reflects the core values for which freedom fighters like Bhagat Singh and his comrades sacrificed their lives.
It said the demand exposed the RSS’s long-standing aim to subvert the Constitution and its intent to transform India into a Hindu Rashtra in pursuit of its Hindutva project.
CPI general secretary D Raja said RSS wanted India to be declared a theocratic nation, which is why it reiterates the need to redefine the Indian nation and rewrite history.
CPI(ML) general secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya said RSS’s attempt stems from the Sangh-BJP design to strip the Constitution’s democratic content. “The words ‘socialist’ and ‘secular’ may have been explicitly added through the 42nd Amendment, but the various articles supporting India’s secular framework and socialist orientation have all along been part of the basic structure of the Constitution,” he said.
RJD president Lalu Prasad called the RSS a “casteist” outfit. “They do not have the guts to cast an evil eye on the Constitution and reservations provided therein. Why are people with an unjust character so full of hatred for democracy and Ambedkar’s Constitution?”
Ambedkar never used ‘secular’, ‘socialist’: RSS leader
Hosabale, addressing an event on the Emergency, said the Preamble of the Constitution formulated by Ambedkar never had the words ‘secular’ and ‘socialist’. “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.
