By Krishna Jha
Dattatreya Hosabale, the general secretary of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, has proposed to remove the words “socialist” and “secular” from the Preamble of the Constitution. The Preamble comes under the basic structure along with the “Fundamental Rights”. Supreme Court has upheld the Preamble along with all the words or the concepts therein many times. Removal of “Secular” as well as “Socialist” from the preamble of the Constitution amounts to an attack on the Constitution. It exposes the long-standing objective of RSS to subvert the Constitution and its intent to transform India into a Hindu Rashtra.
The Constitution of India is a living testament to the sacrifices and dreams of countless freedom fighters who valiantly struggled against colonial rule. The inclusion of “socialism” and “secularism” in the Preamble is not an arbitrary addition; it reflects the core values for which freedom fighters stood and sacrificed their lives. Their ideals are embedded in every provision of the Constitution. The insertion of these words by Indira Gandhi government in 1976 merely affirmed that legacy. The Preamble constitutes the core values of the Constitution. Any attempt to alter the preamble would be nothing but subversion of the Constitution.
Hosabale’s argument that the word “secular” was not there in Ambedkar’s constitution is also false. Even before the inclusion of the word “secular” in the Preamble, the word existed in the Fundamental Rights section enshrined in part III of the Constitution. The word “secular” is mentioned under clause (2)(a) of Article 25 dealing with the freedom of conscience and free profession, practice and propagation of religion. Therefore, the word already constituted one of the core values before it was included in the Preamble of the Indian Constitution.
As a matter of fact the RSS is uncomfortable not just with the Preamble but with the entire Constitution. It cannot tolerate the values cherished by our freedom fighters and the founding fathers of the Constitution. The reason is simple: the RSS played no role in the freedom movement. If anything, it only collaborated with the British and tried to weaken the national movement by creating a divide among Indians on basis of religion. That way, the RSS rather helped the colonial rulers’ strategy based on divide and rule policy.
This is not the first time that the RSS has expressed its intent to subvert the Constitution. It has been doing this from time to time through its words and deeds. In the run up to the Lok Sabha election of 2024, several BJP leaders started making boastful claims that the Constitution would be changed if their party won 400-plus seats. These claims caused country-wide concerns and generated widespread debate. In fact, the concern around this gained such a huge traction that Amit Shah had to publicly display his love for the word “secular” in the Preamble in his election campaign speeches and deny the BJP leaders’ claims that this term would be removed from the Constitution if their party got 400-plus seats. As is well known, the BJP’s tally came down from 303 to 240 in the Lok Sabha election of 2024.
This time round, too, as soon as the RSS general secretary proposed to remove the words “socialist” and “secular” from the Preamble of the Indian Constitution, several BJP leaders, including union ministers Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Jitendra Singh and Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, have also joined the call. Vice president Jagdeep Dhankar went to the extent of saying that the inclusion of the words “socialist” and “secular” in the preamble was “sacrilege to the spirit of sanatan”. Such a concerted move expresses their intent to assail the Constitution which BJP and RSS have recurrently done.
As a matter of fact, the entire Constituent Assembly had worked for establishing the Indian State anchored in secularism. Speaking in the Constituent Assembly on October 14, 1949, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel declared: “I make it clear that this Constitution of India, of free India, of a secular State will not hereafter be disfigured by any provision on a communal basis.”
Another member of the Constituent Assembly, T.J.M. Wilson, outlined the importance of the secular state on November 23, 1949: “The greatest achievement, however, of our Constitution is its secular character, and the secular State that emerges therefrom”. He then added, “We have achieved this secular character of the State and we have provided for it in the Constitution.” He also cautioned: “But the clouds are gathering and are threatening to darken the secular character of the State and obliterate it. I only pray and trust that the progressive forces of this country, under the guidance and leadership of our great and beloved Prime Minister (Jawaharlal Nehru) will clear away those clouds and shall not allow our country to pass once again through that destruction and misery which most of the nations of Europe and Asia had to pass before they could accomplish this great achievement of a secular State.”
Even the Supreme Court has also upheld the inclusion of the words “socialism” and “secularism” in the Preamble of Indian Constitution. On the eve of the 75th anniversary of the Constitution in November 2024, the Supreme Court dismissed a batch of petitions challenging the inclusion of the words “socialist” and “secular” in the Preamble and held that the addition of these terms could not be invalidated merely on the ground that the Preamble in the original form did not contain them at the time of the adoption of the Constitution. The Supreme Court bench comprised of Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna and Justice P.V. Sanjay Kumar. (IPA Service)
