‘Mini Constitution Made': Chirag Paswan Says He Opposes All Decisions During Emergency
Chirag Paswan joined the debate on the Emergency and change of Preamble during that period and said that he opposes all decisions taken by the Indira Gandhi government.
Union Minister Chirag Paswan has joined the debate on the 1975 Emergency, making his stance clear ahead of the Bihar Assembly Elections. He said that he stands against 'all decisions taken during that period".
While he did not explicitly say that he was against the inclusion of the words 'Socialist" and 'Secular" in the Preamble of the Constitution during the Emergency through 42th Amendment, Paswan said that he is against the 'mini Constitution" that was made by the then Indira Gandhi government.
'My thought is socialist, every individual associates himself with secularism, but I am talking about the context on the basis of which the topic has come up. When you protest against the Emergency, you also protest against all decisions taken during that period," he said in an interview with NDTV.
'A huge change was made in the Constitution during the Emergency, which was against the thoughts of Dr BR Ambedkar. I am talking about how thoughts emerged to change the basic structure of the Constitution. A mini Constitution was being made during the tenure of Indira Gandhiji. I am against that thinking and decision which was taken during the Emergency," the Union Minister added.
The debate on the Preamble of the Constitution reignited during the 50th anniversary of the Emergency on June 25, with several top leaders of the ruling BJP and its ideological parent organisation, RSS, commenting on the same.
RSS general secretary Dattatreya Hosabale recently said that the original Constitution did not have the words 'Socialist" and 'Secular" and were added later during the Emergency. He also called for a discussion if the two words should any more remain in the Preamble.
'The words socialist and secular were added to the Preamble. No attempt was made to remove them later. So, there should be a discussion on whether they should remain. I say this in a building (Ambedkar International Centre) named after Babasaheb Ambedkar, whose Constitution did not have these words in the Preamble," he said.
Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar also slammed Congress for changing the Constitution and said that the Preamble is 'not alterable" and the Preamble of no other country has undergone changes except for India.
'The Preamble of the Indian Constitution is unique. Except Bharat, (no other) Constitution's Preamble has undergone change, and why? Preamble is not changeable. Preamble is not alterable. Preamble is the basis on which the Constitution has grown. The Preamble is the seed of the Constitution. It is the soul of the Constitution, but this Preamble for Bharat was changed by the 42nd Constitutional Amendment of 1976, adding the words 'socialist', 'secular', and 'integrity'," he said.
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