Additions to Constitution during Emergency: A festering wound

The insertion of the words "secular and socialist" into the Preamble of the Constitution during the Emergency was a "travesty of justice" and a "sacrilege to the spirit of Sanātana," Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar said on Saturday, amid a political furor over Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) general secretary Dattatreya Hosabale's call to "review" the matter.

- HTC and agencies

NEW DELHI:

Speaking at an event in Delhi on June 26, Hosabale said, "During the Emergency, two words, secular and socialist, were added to the Constitution, which were not part of the original Preamble. Later, these words were not removed. Should they remain or not... a debate must happen on this. These two words were not in Dr. Ambedkar's Constitution. During the Emergency, the country had no functioning Parliament, no rights, no judiciary, and yet these two words were added."

A day later, Union Ministers Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Jitendra Singh backed Hosabale's comments, while the Congress accused the RSS of wanting to "destroy" the Constitution.

The changes were among those made in the contentious 42nd Amendment, passed in 1976.

Addressing an event in Delhi, the Vice President highlighted that no country's Preamble has undergone change except Bharat.