Rahul Gandhi Critiques RSS for Suggesting Changes to Constitution's Preamble

Gandhi's Strong Response to RSS Proposal

On Friday, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi expressed his disapproval of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh's call for a reassessment of the terms in the Preamble of the Constitution. He stated that the Hindutva organization's true intentions were becoming evident once again.

The RSS serves as the foundational organization for the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party.

Gandhi articulated that the Constitution poses a challenge to the RSS due to its emphasis on equality, secularism, and justice, which he shared on social media.

He asserted, 'The RSS-BJP does not desire the Constitution; they prefer Manusmriti.' He accused them of attempting to re-enslave marginalized communities by stripping away their rights, claiming their ultimate goal is to disarm these groups of the Constitution's protective power.

Gandhi further declared, 'The RSS should abandon such aspirations; we will not allow them to prevail. Every patriotic Indian will defend the Constitution until their last breath.'

His remarks followed the RSS's statement on Thursday, which suggested that the inclusion of 'secular' and 'socialist' in the Preamble warranted review.

RSS General Secretary Dattatreya Hosabale remarked that these terms were added during the Emergency period when fundamental rights were suspended, Parliament was inactive, and the judiciary was compromised. He questioned whether these concepts should remain in the Preamble, which he described as eternal, and whether socialism as an ideology is timeless for India.

Hosabale made these comments during an event commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Emergency declared by former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in 1975.

The terms 'socialist' and 'secular' were not included in the original Constitution of 1950 but were incorporated in 1976 through the 42nd amendment.

In November, the Supreme Court dismissed petitions aimed at removing these terms from the Preamble, stating there was no valid reason to challenge the constitutional amendment decades later.

The Communist Party of India (Marxist) criticized the RSS's proposal, claiming it reveals the organization's longstanding aim to undermine the Constitution and its intent to establish a Hindu Rashtra as part of its Hindutva agenda.

The Congress party condemned Hosabale's comments, asserting that the RSS and BJP's ideology directly contradicts the Constitution.

They described the remarks as more than a mere suggestion, labeling them a 'deliberate assault on the essence of our Constitution.'

The party accused the RSS-BJP of conspiring to dismantle Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar's vision for a fair, inclusive, and democratic India.

In 2015, a controversy arose when advertisements from the BJP-led Union government on Republic Day omitted the terms 'socialist' and 'secular' from the Preamble.

In September 2023, Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury alleged that these words were absent from the copies of the Constitution distributed to MPs in the new Parliament building.