Latest news with #AvimukteshwaranandSaraswati
Time of India
2 days ago
- Politics
- Time of India
‘This word is not right': Shankaracharya Swami Avimukteshwaranand backs scrapping ‘secular' from Preamble; echoes RSS call
PTI file photo NEW DELHI: Shankracharya Swami Avimukteshwaranand Saraswati on Thursday said that the word secular didn't align with the nature of the Indian constitution. "The word secular was not there in the constitution originally; it was added later. That is why the word 'dharmnirpeksh' (secular) does not align with the nature of the Indian constitution," he said. The Shankaracharya of the Jyotir Math in Uttarakhand further said that the word 'secular' implied indifference to right and wrong, whereas 'dharma' was about distinguishing between the two. "Dharma means to think about right and wrong and to adopt the right and to reject the wrong. To become secular means that we have nothing to do with right or wrong. This cannot happen in anyone's life. So this word is also not right," he said. Avimukteshwaranand Saraswati was supporting the recent demand by Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh ( RSS ) general secretary Dattatreya Hosabale for reconsidering the use of the words 'socialist' and 'secular' in the preamble of the Indian constitution. Addressing an event marking 50 years of the Emergency, Hosabale had remarked, 'Babasaheb Ambedkar never used these words in the preamble of the constitution. The words were added during the Emergency, when fundamental rights were suspended, parliament did not function, and the judiciary became lame." Opposition parties sharply criticised Hosabale's call to review the words, calling it an assault on the core values of the constitution. Leader of the opposition in Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, hit back at the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) on June 27, accusing it of wanting to replace the constitution with the Manusmriti. Escalating his criticism, Gandhi alleged that the RSS sought to deny the rights of the poor and marginalised and push them back into subjugation. "The mask of the RSS has slipped again," he said. In a post on X, Gandhi wrote: 'The RSS-BJP doesn't want the constitution. They want Manusmriti. Their real agenda is to rob the marginalised and the poor of their rights and enslave them once more by taking away their most powerful weapon — the constitution.' The words 'secular' and 'socialist', along with 'integrity', were added to the preamble through the constitution (Forty-second amendment) act, 1976.
NDTV
06-05-2025
- Politics
- NDTV
Rahul Gandhi Excommunicated From Hinduism For Insulting Manusmriti: Shankaracharya
Haridwar: Shankaracharya Swami Avimukteshwaranand Saraswati on Tuesday said Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi has been excommunicated from Hinduism for insulting the Manusmriti. Describing the Manusmriti as the foundation of Sanatan Dharma, he said Rahul Gandhi had insulted it in some context in the Lok Sabha. He said the decision to excommunicate the Congress leader from Hinduism was taken after he did not respond to a notice issued by the Math for insulting the Manusmriti nor offer an apology for it. "Rahul Gandhi has been formally excommunicated from Hinduism by the Shankaracharya Math," the Shankaracharya of Jyotirpeeth Badrinath Dham announced at his Math in Kankhal. "He was also given a notice in this regard by the Shankaracharya Math, but he neither apologised for it nor gave any reply to the notice. That is why he has been formally excommunicated from Hinduism by the Shankaracharya Math," the Shankaracharya said.
