Latest news with #Hosabale
Scroll.in
6 hours ago
- Politics
- Scroll.in
‘Mask has come off': Rahul Gandhi on RSS calling for review of words in Preamble to Constitution
Criticising the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh for calling for a review of words in the Preamble to the Constitution, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Friday said that the Hindutva organisation's ' mask had come off again '. The RSS is the parent organisation of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party. The Constitution hurts the RSS because it talks about equality, secularism and justice, Gandhi said on social media. 'RSS-BJP does not want the Constitution, but Manusmriti,' said the leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha. 'They want to enslave the marginalised and the poor again by snatching their rights. Their real agenda is to snatch away a powerful weapon like the Constitution from them.' Gandhi added: 'RSS should stop dreaming like this – we will never let them succeed. Every patriotic Indian will protect the Constitution till the last breath.' The Congress leader's comments came a day after the RSS on Thursday said that the inclusion of the words 'secular' and 'socialist' in the Preamble to the Constitution should be reviewed. 'The words were added during [the] Emergency, when fundamental rights were suspended, Parliament did not function, and the judiciary became lame,' said RSS General Secretary Dattatreya Hosabale. He added: 'So, whether they should remain in the Preamble should be considered. The Preamble is eternal. Are the thoughts of socialism as an ideology eternal for India?' Hosabale made the statements while speaking at an event marking 50 years since the Emergency was declared by former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi's government in 1975. The words 'socialist' and 'secular' were not part of the Constitution adopted in 1950 and were added in 1976 through the 42nd constitutional amendment. In November, the Supreme Court rejected a batch of petitions seeking the deletion of the two terms from the Preamble to the Constitution. The court said there was no legitimate justification for challenging the constitutional amendment several decades later. The Communist Party of India (Marxist) said on Friday that the 'proposal' made by the Hindutva organisation ' exposes the RSS' long-standing objective of subverting the Constitution and its intent to transform India into a Hindu Rashtra, in pursuit of its Hindutva project.' The Congress had on Thursday night criticised Hosabale's remarks, saying that the RSS and the BJP's ideology stood in ' direct opposition ' to the Constitution. The remarks were not merely a suggestion, but a 'deliberate assault on the soul of our Constitution', alleged the Opposition party. 'It is part of a long-standing conspiracy to dismantle Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar's vision for a just, inclusive and democratic India – something the RSS-BJP has always been plotting,' the party alleged. In 2015, a controversy erupted after the BJP-led Union government's newspaper advertisements on Republic Day featured a Preamble with the two words omitted. In September 2023, Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury claimed that the two words were missing from the Preamble in the copies of the Constitution distributed to the MPs in the new Parliament building.
Hans India
7 hours ago
- Politics
- Hans India
RSS mask comes off; it wants ‘Manusmriti': Rahul
Demanding an apology from the Congress for imposing the Emergency, he said, 'Those who did such things are today moving around with the Constitution's copy. They have still not apologised. Your ancestors did it. You must apologise for this to the country,' he said in his remarks aimed at Congress leader Rahul Gandhi. Recalling the days of the Emergency, the RSS leader said while thousands of people were put in jail and tortured during that period, freedom of the judiciary and media was also curtailed. 'The days of the Emergency also witnessed large-scale forced sterilisation,' Hosabale added. Speaking to a news agency on Friday, Shiv Sena leader Shaina NC backed the RSS leader's remarks, stating: 'He is absolutely right. The words 'socialist' and 'secular' were not part of the original Preamble of the Constitution drafted by BR Ambedkar. These were added during the Emergency in 1975, when then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi introduced the 42nd Constitutional Amendment. This raises a question—why highlight only these two terms when India is already a sovereign, democratic republic?' She added that the Congress should apologise for the Emergency era amendments, saying: 'Shiv Sena demands that the Congress party apologise publicly for the Emergency. These terms were not in the original draft, and they should be removed.' On the other hand, Congress leader Tariq Anwar condemned Hosabale's remarks, saying: 'There's a clear scent of communalism in his statement. India is secular by nature and by history. The Constitution guarantees the right to equality, the right to vote, and the right to practice one's religion. As for socialism, it aims to reduce inequality. We are striving to create a just society, and the term 'socialism' symbolises that effort.' RJD leader Shakti Singh Yadav also slammed the RSS, accusing it of repeatedly attempting to undermine the Constitution's foundational principles. 'The RSS has always wanted to change the Constitution. The BJP is merely the political face of the RSS, and after coming to power, they are trying to implement the RSS's ideology. Narendra Modi is not just the Prime Minister of India; he represents the RSS's mission. Their agenda to remove socialism and secularism will not be accepted by the people.'
Hans India
8 hours ago
- Politics
- Hans India
‘Assault on soul of Constitution': Oppn slams RSS' view on Preamble
New Delhi: Several Opposition parties on Friday denounced RSS general secretary Dattatreya Hosabale's call to review the words 'socialist' and 'secular' in the Preamble, terming it a "deliberate assault" on the soul of the Constitution. The attack came a day after the RSS proposed reviewing the two words, saying they were included during the Emergency and were never part of the Constitution drafted by B R Ambedkar. While the Congress saw it as a "deliberate assault" on the soul of the Constitution and claimed the RSS-BJP had never accepted Ambedkar's Constitution, the CPI(M) said the demand exposes the RSS' long-standing objective of subverting it. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said the mask of the RSS has come off again as they want 'Manusmriti'. CPI(M) leader and Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan said Hosabale's call is a "brazen attempt to dismantle the core ideals of our Republic". "Invoking the Emergency to discredit these principles is a deceitful move, especially when the RSS colluded with the Indira Gandhi government during that time for its own survival. To use that period now to undermine the Constitution reflects sheer hypocrisy and political opportunism. "Secularism and socialism are not additions; they define India. Every citizen who believes in democracy must raise their voice against this communal agenda," Vijayan said on X. The Left parties and RJD alleged that Hosabale's proposal was part of a conspiracy to change the Constitution. Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh said the BJP/RSS attacked Ambedkar, Nehru, and others involved in the framing of the Constitution from November 30, 1949, onwards. "The RSS and the BJP have repeatedly given the call for a new Constitution. "This was 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 continue 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. He also shared on X a copy of the judgement.
Hans India
8 hours ago
- Politics
- Hans India
RSS pitches for removal of terms socialist, secular from Preamble
New Delhi: A fresh controversy erupted on Friday after Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) General Secretary Dattatreya Hosabale called for a review of the words 'socialist' and 'secular' in the Preamble of the Indian Constitution. The remarks, made at an event in Delhi late Thursday night, drew support from Shiv Sena while Congress and the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) criticised it on Friday. Hosabale, speaking at the Ambedkar International Centre, made a strong pitch to consider whether the words socialist and secular, which were added to the Preamble by the Congress government during the Emergency, should remain. He further said: "The words 'socialist' and 'secular' were added to the Preamble during the Emergency. No attempt was made to remove them later. There should be a discussion on whether they should remain. I say this in a building named after Babasaheb Ambedkar, whose original Constitution did not include these terms in the Preamble." "The days of the Emergency also witnessed large-scale forced sterilisation," Hosabale added. Hosabale's remarks came after the BJP-led Central government on Wednesday observed June 25 as the 'Samvidhaan Hatya Diwas', marking the 50th anniversary of the imposition of the Emergency. On Wednesday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi described the imposition of the Emergency as one of the darkest chapters in India's democratic history, saying the Congress not only violated the spirit of the Constitution but placed "democracy under arrest".
Indian Express
11 hours ago
- Politics
- Indian Express
‘Socialist', ‘secular' in Preamble: Shivraj, MoS Singh back Hosabale, Opposition slams remark
A day after RSS Sarkaryavaha Dattatreya Hosabale called for a discussion on whether the words 'socialist' and 'secular', inserted in the Preamble of the Constitution during the Emergency, should remain there, Union Ministers Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Dr Jitendra Singh threw their weight behind the idea even as leaders of the Congress and other Opposition parties criticised Hosabale's remark. There was no comment from the BJP on the RSS leader's suggestion. Sudhanshu Trivedi, the party's national spokesperson, attacked the Congress for being 'behind every act of tampering with the Constitution and its spirit' over the last seven decades, and said it should apologise for the Emergency. The LJP, which is part of the ruling alliance, was the only NDA partner to respond to Hosabale's remark. 'If this issue is brought before the alliance, we will oppose it. We are protectors of socialism and secularism,' LJP national vice president A K Bajpayi said. Shivraj Singh Chouhan's office shared a video of the minister addressing a press conference Friday in Varanasi where he said, 'Sarva Dharma Sambhav Bharatiya sanskriti ka mool hai. Dharm nirpeksh hamari sanskriti ka mool nahin hai. Isliye ispar zaroor vichaar hona chahiye ki aapaatkaal mein jis dharm nirpeksh shabd ko joda gaya usko hataya jaaye.' ('The core of Indian culture is Sarva Dharma Sambhav (equal respect for all religions) and not dharm nirpeksh (secular). Therefore, there must be a discussion on the removal of the word dharm nirpeksh that was added during the Emergency.') On socialism, Chouhan said that to believe everyone else to be like oneself is a core Indian thought. That this world is a family (Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam) is the core thought of India, he said. 'There is no need for socialism here. We have said for long that all should be treated alike. So, the word socialism is also not needed, and the country should certainly think about this,' he said. In Jammu, Minister of State Jitendra Singh said he did not think there was 'any second thought' on Hosabale's remark. 'Hosabale ji has stated that the words 'secular' and 'socialist' were added to our Preamble after the 42nd amendment as these were not given by Babasaheb Ambedkar,'' he said. Pointing out that Dr B R Ambedkar crafted 'one of the best Constitutions of the world'', Singh said 'if it was not his thinking, then with what thought someone added these words'. Asked whether the BJP endorsed the demand for the removal of the words 'secular' and 'socialist', Singh said, 'Who doesn't want to? Every right-thinking citizen will endorse it because everyone knows they are not part of the original Constitution document, which Dr Ambedkar and the rest of the committee wrote.' 'It is not a question of BJP vs non-BJP,'' he said, adding 'it is the question of preserving the democratic values and the constitutional values''. He said the Emergency was not a sudden aberration but rather the cumulative result of the Congress ideological foundation, and accused the party of being rooted in nepotism, authoritarianism and opportunism, always placing its own interests above that of the country. Referring to Hosabale's remark, Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi said the 'RSS mask' has 'come off again', and that the Constitution troubles them 'because it speaks of equality, secularism and justice'. In a post on X in Hindi, Gandhi said the 'RSS-BJP' combine 'wants Manusmriti' and is out to deprive the marginalised and the poor of their rights. 'Their real agenda is to snatch away a powerful weapon like the Constitution from them,' he said. Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said: 'Invoking the Emergency to discredit these principles is a deceitful move, especially when the RSS colluded with the Indira Gandhi government during that time for its own survival… To use that period now to undermine the Constitution reflects sheer hypocrisy and political opportunism.' BJP's Trivedi was quoted by news agency PTI saying, 'The BJP has been raising the issue of flagrant violations of people's fundamental rights and atrocities committed by the Congress government during the Emergency, and has demanded an apology from the Congress. But the party is not ready to apologise and is instead diverting the issue.' 'It is the Congress which is behind every act of tampering with the Constitution and its spirit in the last over 70 years. The Congress must apologise instead of spreading confusion,' he said. Vikas Pathak is deputy associate editor with The Indian Express and writes on national politics. He has over 17 years of experience, and has worked earlier with The Hindustan Times and The Hindu, among other publications. He has covered the national BJP, some key central ministries and Parliament for years, and has covered the 2009 and 2019 Lok Sabha polls and many state assembly polls. He has interviewed many Union ministers and Chief Ministers. Vikas has taught as a full-time faculty member at Asian College of Journalism, Chennai; Symbiosis International University, Pune; Jio Institute, Navi Mumbai; and as a guest professor at Indian Institute of Mass Communication, New Delhi. Vikas has authored a book, Contesting Nationalisms: Hinduism, Secularism and Untouchability in Colonial Punjab (Primus, 2018), which has been widely reviewed by top academic journals and leading newspapers. He did his PhD, M Phil and MA from JNU, New Delhi, was Student of the Year (2005-06) at ACJ and gold medalist from University Rajasthan College in Jaipur in graduation. He has been invited to top academic institutions like JNU, St Stephen's College, Delhi, and IIT Delhi as a guest speaker/panellist. ... Read More
