Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar said on Saturday that no change can be made in the preamble of the Constitution, as it is the seed on which this document develops. He said that there has been no change in the preamble of the Constitution of any other country other than India. The Preamble of our Constitution was replaced by the 42nd Constitution (Amendment) Act of 1976. Words like ‘socialist’, ‘secular’ and ‘integrity’ were added to it.
Vice President Dhankhar said, ‘We should consider this. BR Ambedkar had worked hard on it while making the constitution of the country and he must have focused on the original preamble. This comment by Jagdeep Dhankhar came at a time in a book release ceremony when the RSS on Thursday called for reviewing the words ‘socialist’ and ‘secular’ in the preface of the Constitution. The RSS had said that they were included during the Emergency and both these words were never part of the constitution prepared by BR Ambedkar.
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Jagdeep Dhankhar told the news agency ANI, ‘Emergency was the darkest period of Indian democracy, when people were behind bars, fundamental rights were suspended. Till the preamble was a temper of words? It should be considered condemnable beyond words … We are giving wings to existence challenges … Adding these words to the preamble of the Constitution during the Emergency reflects betrayal with the thinking of the constitution makers. ‘
RSS General Secretary Dattatreya Hosbale has called for a national debate on the issue whether the words ‘secular’ and ‘socialist’ should be in the preface of the Constitution or not. He called it ‘political opportunism’ and ‘deliberate attack’ on the soul of the Constitution. However, Congress and other opposition parties have criticized his statement. During the Emergency (1975–77), Hosbale’s strong advocacy has given rise to political controversy to review the two words included in the preamble of the Constitution.
Also read: From Delhi to Maharashtra … Constitution is fierce! Debate in RSS and opposition on demand to remove ‘socialism-secularism’
Meanwhile, an article published in the magazine Organizer associated with the RSS states that it is not about ending the Constitution, but is about to restore the basic spirit of the Constitution by freeing from the distortions of the Congress’s policies. Union Minister Jitendra Singh and senior BJP leader defended the call of the second most senior officer of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and said that any citizen with the right thinking will support it, because everyone knows that these words Dr. B.R. There were no part of the original constitution written by Ambedkar.