WON'T SIT QUIET IF CONSTITUTION TAMPERED WITH, SAYS BSP CHIEF

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

- HTC and agencies

NEW DELHI: Insertion of the words "secular and socialist" in the Preamble of the Constitution during the Emergency, a "travesty of justice" and a "sacrilege to the spirit of sanatana," Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar said on Saturday, amid a political furore over Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) general secretary Dattatreya Hosabale's call to "review" the matter.

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.

"Except Bharat, [no other] Constitution's Preamble has undergone change, and why? Preamble is not changeable... But devastatingly, this change was effected for Bharat at a time when people were virtually enslaved. We the people, the ultimate fountain of power—the best of them were languishing in jails. They were denied access to the judicial system. I am referring to the 22 months of draconian Emergency that was proclaimed on 25 June 1975. So, what a travesty of justice! First, we change something which is not changeable, alterable—something that emanates from We the People—and then, you change it during Emergency. When We the People were bleeding—in heart, in soul—they were in darkness," he said.