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Cong slams RSS over calls for reviewing 'socialist', 'secular' in Preamble
Slamming the RSS for calling for reviewing the words 'socialist' and 'secular' in the Preamble of the Constitution, the Congress on Friday alleged that the RSS has "never accepted" Babasaheb Ambedkar's Constitution and that their demand was part of the conspiracy to destroy it.
The RSS on Thursday called for reviewing the words 'socialist' and 'secular' in the Preamble of the Constitution, saying they were included during the Emergency and were never part of the Constitution drafted by B R Ambedkar.
Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh said the RSS has "never accepted" the Constitution of India.
"It attacked Dr Ambedkar, Nehru, and others involved in its framing from November 30, 1949 onwards. In RSS' own words, the Constitution was not inspired by Manusmriti," he said in a post on X.
"The RSS and the BJP have repeatedly given the call for a new Constitution."
"This was Mr (Narendra) Modi's campaign cry during the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. The people of India decisively rejected this cry. Yet the demands for changing the basic structure of the Constitution continues to be made by the RSS ecosystem," Ramesh said.
The Chief Justice of India himself delivered a judgment on November 25, 2024 on the issue now being raised by a leading RSS functionary, he said.
"Would it be asking too much to request him to take the trouble to read it?" Ramesh said.
In a post on X from its official handle, the Congress alleged that the thinking of RSS-BJP is "anti-constitutional".
"Now RSS general secretary Dattatreya Hosabale has demanded a change in the Preamble of the Constitution. Hosabale says- the words 'socialist' and 'secular' should be removed from the Preamble of the Constitution. This is the conspiracy to destroy Baba Saheb's Constitution, which RSS-BJP has always been hatching," the party said.
When the Constitution was implemented, RSS opposed it, the Congress said.
"In the Lok Sabha elections, BJP leaders were openly saying that we need more than 400 seats in Parliament to change the Constitution. Finally, the public taught them a lesson. Now once again they are engaged in their conspiracies, but the Congress will not let their intentions succeed at any cost. Jai Samvidhan," the party said in the post in Hindi.
Addressing an event organised here on the Emergency, RSS general secretary Hosabale 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, judiciary became lame, then these words were added." He 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.
"The Preamble is eternal. Are the thoughts of socialism as an ideology eternal for India?" Hosabale said.
The suggestion from the RSS' second senior-most functionary to consider removing the two terms came as he hit out at the Congress for its Emergency-era excesses and demanded an apology from the party.
(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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Deccan Herald
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