'Those Who Wronged The Nation Must Apologise': RSS Attacks Congress Over 1975 Emergency

News18

26-06-2025

Last Updated:
RSS general secretary Dattatreya Hosabale said the Preamble of the Constitution was tampered with during Emergency and two words, 'socialism' and 'secularism', were inserted
In a sharp and rare indictment, RSS general secretary Dattatreya Hosabale on Thursday called out the Congress – without naming it – and demanded an open apology for imposing Emergency 50 years ago.
On the 50th anniversary of Emergency – now known as 'Samvidhan Hatya Diwas' – the RSS decided to do something it rarely does by launching a fierce attack on the Congress.
'Those (Congress) who wronged the nation must apologise. Why haven't they? They jailed over a lakh citizens – young men, students, thinkers, patriots. They broke families, shuttered pressrooms, exiled dissent, and called it order. State turned on its own – and no one has yet said sorry yet," Hosabale said.
Hosabale said the 'wounds of 1975" are far from healed and this was not only about one individual, the then prime minister Indira Gandhi. It was about a mentality that treated the citizens as 'subjects" who must be 'ruled", he said.
'Even if their ancestors committed the wrongs, they must seek forgiveness in their name," he said.
Hosabale further said the Preamble of the Constitution was also tampered with during the period. During the Emergency, two critical words – 'socialism" and 'secularism" – were quietly inserted into the Preamble of the Constitution, he said. These were not part of the original document drafted by BR Ambedkar, nor were they the product of public discourse or constituent consensus, he added.
'The terms secular and socialist were inserted into the Indian Constitution during the emergency in 1976, a period widely criticised for authoritarianism and suppression of dissent. Critics argue that these words were not part of the original vision of the Constitution framers, including Dr BR Ambedkar, who believed in allowing the democratic process to shape India's socioeconomic character organically. Their inclusion, without broad public debate, is seen by some as undermining the Constitution's original spirit of ideological neutrality," he said.
He said the terms were added through an amendment, passed at a time when Parliament operated under fear and not freedom.
'Socialism and secularism – these two words were not in the Constitution that Babasaheb Ambedkar gave us. They were inserted later. We must ask why," he said. 'Did socialism ever align with Bharat's civilisational ethos? It was imposed, not evolved. Secularism is in our nature, in our society, in our state policies. But we didn't need to artificially declare it."
He added: 'It is time for a serious deliberation – should these terms stay in the Preamble? And do they dilute the spirit of our Constitution drafted by Babasaheb?"
His words carry weight not only because of who said them, but because of how rarely the Sangh makes a direct political charge. The RSS, often meticulously distanced from day-to-day party politics, has now held the Congress accountable – not only for mass incarcerations and civil rights violations, but also for what it calls a theft of democratic and constitutional integrity.